The verdict in three sentences
For a West African B2B platform, choose your aggregator first on payout delay and the quality of reconciliation exports, then on the fee. A 1-point fee gap on 400 million FCFA of monthly flows equals 48 million FCFA a year (about 73,000 EUR or 79,000 USD), which justifies serious negotiation from 150 million FCFA of volume. Budget 3 to 8 million FCFA for integration (4,600 to 12,200 EUR) and design a multi-aggregator architecture from day one so you never depend on a single provider.
The 2026 aggregator landscape: what you really pay
Whether the platform is run from Dakar or financed by a diaspora team in Toronto, a B2B ordering platform in Senegal must accept four families of payment methods: mobile money (Wave, Orange Money, Free Money), bank cards (GIM-UEMOA, Visa, Mastercard), bank transfers and, for some shops, credit on invoice. No aggregator covers all four perfectly. The table below gives 2026 orders of magnitude seen in negotiations for 200 to 500 million FCFA a month.
| Criterion | Local mobile money aggregator | Regional UEMOA aggregator | International card PSP | Direct bank transfer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard fee | 1 to 1.5% | 1.5 to 2.5% | 2.9 to 3.5% | 0 to 0.3% or flat 1,000 FCFA |
| Negotiated fee (300M FCFA/month) | 0.8 to 1% | 1.2 to 1.8% | 2.5 to 2.9% | monthly flat fee |
| Payout delay | J+1 | J+2 to J+3 | J+5 to J+7 | J+0 to J+2 |
| Methods covered | Wave, Orange Money, Free Money | Mobile money in 8 countries + GIM cards | Visa, Mastercard, Apple Pay | SICA-UEMOA transfer |
| Reconciliation export | Daily CSV | CSV + API | Full API | MT940 or CSV statement |
| Refund fees | 0 to 500 FCFA | 0.5% | fee not returned | free |
| Signed webhooks | Yes | Yes | Yes | Rarely |
For 800 shops paying mostly with mobile money, a local aggregator remains the core of the setup. The international PSP only serves export customers or key accounts paying with corporate cards.
Payout delays and cash flow: the hidden cost
CFOs often look at the fee and forget the cost of carrying cash. A J+7 payout on 400 million FCFA of monthly flows permanently ties up about 93 million FCFA. At a 9% overdraft rate, that costs almost 8.4 million FCFA a year, the equivalent of an extra 0.17% fee.
| Payout delay | Cash tied up (400M FCFA/month) | Annual cost at 9% | Fee equivalent |
|---|---|---|---|
| J+1 | 13M FCFA | 1.2M FCFA | 0.03% |
| J+2 | 27M FCFA | 2.4M FCFA | 0.05% |
| J+3 | 40M FCFA | 3.6M FCFA | 0.08% |
| J+5 | 67M FCFA | 6M FCFA | 0.13% |
| J+7 | 93M FCFA | 8.4M FCFA | 0.17% |
Another point to watch: limits. A standard mobile money merchant account often caps single transactions between 1.5 and 3 million FCFA. A shop ordering 4 million FCFA of goods will have to pay by transfer or split the payment. Your platform must handle this cleanly, with a partial payment and a balance by transfer reconciled automatically.
Integration and reconciliation: where the budget goes
The technical integration of an aggregator is not the heaviest item. The real work is automatic reconciliation between orders, payments received, payouts and accounting entries (Sage, Odoo or an in-house ERP). Without it, your accounting team spends 2 to 3 days a month matching thousands of lines.
| Item | Minimum version | Full version |
|---|---|---|
| 1 mobile money aggregator (API + webhooks) | 900,000 FCFA | 1,500,000 FCFA |
| Cards and international PSP | 700,000 FCFA | 1,200,000 FCFA |
| Bank transfer with unique reference per order | 400,000 FCFA | 900,000 FCFA |
| Reconciliation and automatic matching engine | 800,000 FCFA | 2,500,000 FCFA |
| ERP connector (Sage, Odoo) | 0 (CSV export) | 1,200,000 FCFA |
| Testing, acceptance and go-live | 200,000 FCFA | 700,000 FCFA |
| Total | 3,000,000 FCFA | 8,000,000 FCFA |
Three requirements belong in the specification: signed, idempotent webhooks (a payment notified twice must never create two receipts), a unique reference per order passed to the aggregator, and a variance dashboard flagging every unmatched payment within 24 h.
Mini case study
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Moussa, CFO of a consumer goods distributor in Dakar backed by a Toronto-based investor, opens an ordering platform to 800 shops. Expected volume: 350 million FCFA a month, 70% mobile money, 20% transfer and 10% card.
- Scenario A, a single international PSP at 2.9% and J+7: 10.15 million FCFA in fees per month, 121.8 million FCFA a year, plus 7.4 million FCFA of cash cost.
- Scenario B, local aggregator at a negotiated 1% on mobile money (245M FCFA), flat-fee transfers (70M FCFA, about 150,000 FCFA a month), card PSP at 2.7% (35M FCFA): 2.45 + 0.15 + 0.95 = 3.55 million FCFA a month, 42.6 million FCFA a year.
Annual saving: about 79 million FCFA (roughly 120,000 EUR), plus 5 million FCFA of freed cash. The full integration at 7.5 million FCFA pays back in just over a month.
FAQ
One aggregator or several?
Above 100 million FCFA of monthly flows, at least two. A one-day outage on 350 million FCFA a month blocks about 16 million FCFA of orders, and a second provider costs under 1.5 million FCFA to integrate.
Can fees be negotiated at launch?
Yes, by presenting a volume forecast signed by management. Aggregators commonly grant 0.2 to 0.5 points of discount from 150 million FCFA a month, often with a review clause at 6 months.
Does automatic reconciliation work with Sage?
Yes, through an entry export in the expected format or a dedicated connector. Expect 90% to 98% automatic matching, the rest handled in a variance screen in a few minutes a day.
How do we handle shops buying on credit?
The platform issues an invoice due at 15 or 30 days with a Wave or Orange Money payment link. Automatic reminders at J-3, J0 and J+7 cut unpaid invoices by 30 to 50% in our experience.
How long until we are live?
Plan 6 to 10 weeks: 2 to 4 weeks for merchant account opening and KYC, with 4 to 6 weeks of development and testing in parallel.
Let's scope your project. We design your multi-aggregator payment architecture, accounting reconciliation and budget, between 3 and 8 million FCFA, with go-live in 6 to 10 weeks. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
