Ugandan fintech MAM Telecom lands $250,000 grant
Ugandan payments infrastructure startup MAM Telecom Ltd has secured a $250,000 (about Sh32 million) grant from a South African businessman to fund its entry into the region’s mobile-money market.
The Kampala-based firm said the funder, a private individual, had asked not to be named.
The money will be spent on regulatory licensing, hiring technical and operations staff, building its platform and setting up risk and compliance systems ahead of a launch in Uganda.
MAM Telecom is targeting a long-standing headache for mobile-money agents: running out of float.
Its platform will allow agents and other financial service providers to access digital float, while offering centralised settlement, reconciliation, reporting and API connections to fintechs and businesses.
The firm says it will not compete as a consumer wallet but instead act as a settlement layer linking existing players in the financial system.
“MAM Telecom has always been focused on solving an infrastructure problem rather than simply building another financial application,” founder and chief executive Milon Ahabwe Mutebile said in a statement.
“Securing this grant is an important validation of that approach. More importantly, it gives us the resources to strengthen our regulatory foundation, bring in critical talent and move from planning into disciplined execution.”
The company is also developing MAM Fex, a cross-border remittance and foreign exchange product that will run on the same infrastructure.
Its business plan cites fragmented agent liquidity, delayed float top-ups and poor visibility into liquidity and settlement as key gaps in East Africa’s digital payments market.
Agent float shortages remain a common problem in the region, often forcing customers to move between agents to complete withdrawals.
MAM Telecom says it will take a compliance-first approach, building anti-money laundering, know-your-customer and transaction monitoring controls into its model from the start.
“We see this as the beginning of a much more intensive phase of execution,” Mr Mutebile said. “Our priority is to build the regulatory, technical and operational foundations properly before scaling.”
The firm plans to expand across East Africa after its Uganda rollout.
Real ESG impact doesn’t happen in panels alone, it happens in the rooms where financiers, operators, and policymakers actually align. Our GreenShift Forum 2026 cuts the noise, bringing together the people rewiring Africa’s sustainability and energy frameworks for one focused day in Nairobi. Secure your seat.
Go to TECHTRENDSKE.co.ke for more tech and business news from the African continent and across the world.
Follow us on WhatsApp, Telegram, Twitter, and Facebook, or subscribe to our weekly newsletter to ensure you don’t miss out on any future updates. Send tips to info@techtrendsmedia.co.ke
