8 October 2026 · Wycord
Accept payments in Francophone West Africa: API options
The FCFA zone runs on Wave, Orange Money, and operators that differ by country. This guide covers the verified payment APIs that aggregate them, so you can collect and disburse across Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, and beyond with a single integration.
payments
Nigeria has Paystack. Kenya has M-Pesa. Francophone West Africa is different: Wave has established itself as the dominant mobile money operator in Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire, Orange Money covers most of the region, MTN runs in Côte d'Ivoire and Cameroon, and Moov connects the smaller markets. No single operator runs the whole zone. To collect or disburse money across more than one country here, you almost always need an aggregator.
The currencies matter too. The eight WAEMU member states (Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Benin, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Togo, Guinea-Bissau) share the XOF, pegged to the euro. Cameroon and the five CEMAC states use XAF, pegged at the same rate. Some aggregators handle both currency zones, which simplifies multi-region products.
The operators, country by country
Before choosing an API, know which operators your target countries actually run:
| Operator | Countries (from verified API docs) |
|---|---|
| Wave | Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire |
| Orange Money | Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Guinea |
| MTN MoMo | Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon |
| Moov | Benin, Togo, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger |
| Free Money / Expresso | Senegal |
| T-Money | Togo |
No single operator covers all of West FCFA Africa. This is why aggregators exist and why direct operator integrations only make sense for single-country products.
Going direct: Wave Business API
For products focused entirely on Senegal or Côte d'Ivoire, the Wave Business API is the direct integration with the region's largest mobile money network. Wave reports more than 1 million active API users and 100,000 active in-person merchants on its platform.
Key details:
- Checkout sessions, bulk disbursements, and payouts denominated in XOF
- Bulk payment fee: 1% (recipients pay nothing)
- Sandbox environment available
- API access requires an approved Wave Business account: not self-serve
- Documentation at docs.wave.com/business
If your product only targets Senegal or Côte d'Ivoire and Wave is the primary wallet for your users, a direct Wave integration combined with one secondary provider for Orange Money users can be enough. Anything wider than two countries will push you toward a full aggregator.
Aggregators: multi-country coverage in one integration
PayDunya
PayDunya is a Senegalese platform that aggregates mobile money and card payments across seven francophone countries. It offers the deepest operator-country coverage of any provider in the Wycord registry for this region.
Supported countries and operators:
- Senegal: Orange Money, Wave, Free Money, Expresso, Wizall
- Côte d'Ivoire: Orange Money, Wave, MTN, Moov, Djamo
- Benin: MTN, Moov
- Togo: T-Money, Moov
- Mali: Orange Money, Moov
- Burkina Faso: Orange Money, Moov
- Cameroon: MTN
Card payments (Visa, Mastercard) are available across supported markets. SDKs cover PHP, Python, Node.js, Java, .NET, and Ruby. Plugin packages exist for Magento, PrestaShop, WordPress, and WHMCS. REST API includes push payments and webhook notifications. Documentation at developers.paydunya.com.
Hub2
Hub2 covers nine countries across West and Central Africa: Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Mali, Niger, Guinea, and Togo. It aggregates Wave, Orange, MTN, and Moov through a single Pay-In and Pay-Out API, and adds bank transfers and cards to the mobile money rails. Hub2 is the only provider in the registry that also exposes a cryptocurrency payment rail. Documentation at docs.hub2.io. Access is approval-based.
CinetPay
CinetPay, founded in 2016 and headquartered in Côte d'Ivoire, is one of the longest-running francophone payment gateways. It covers mobile money and bank cards (Visa, Mastercard) across its francophone markets. SDKs are available in JavaScript, Python, Go, Flutter, and PHP. The developer documentation at docs.cinetpay.com requires registration to access in full. The 2016 founding date matters if integration stability and ecosystem maturity are priorities.
GeniusPay
GeniusPay is anchored in Côte d'Ivoire and connects 60+ operators across 23 African countries. It handles XOF, XAF, CDF, KES, RWF, and additional currencies with automatic conversion. Mobile money providers include Orange Money, MTN MoMo, Wave, Moov, and Airtel. Card integration runs through PawaPay and Paystack. Sandbox and production environments available; documentation at pay.genius.ci/doc. This entry was community-submitted and is pending editorial review.
SenePay
SenePay, based in Dakar, aggregates Wave, Orange Money, MTN, Moov, Free Money, Airtel, Expresso, and T-Money across 14 countries, including Central African markets such as Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, and DRC. Commission model: 3.6%. HMAC-SHA256 signed webhooks; sandbox available. Documentation at api.sene-pay.com/docs.html. This entry was also community-submitted and is pending editorial review.
One provider that is no longer operational
Bizao appeared in earlier versions of the registry and is referenced in several integration guides. As of October 2026, the main Bizao domain redirects to an unrelated site, and the developer portal (dev.bizao.com) has no active DNS. Do not build against Bizao.
What to use when
| Goal | Option |
|---|---|
| Senegal or Côte d'Ivoire only, Wave-first users | Wave Business API (direct) |
| Broadest operator-country matrix in 7 countries, strong SDK support | PayDunya |
| 9 countries including cards, bank transfers, and crypto | Hub2 |
| CI-anchored, 60+ operators across 23 countries, multi-currency | GeniusPay |
| 14-country reach including Central Africa | SenePay |
| Established francophone gateway since 2016 | CinetPay |
For every provider except Wave, verify the current coverage for your specific target country before writing integration code. The FCFA payment ecosystem evolves faster than documentation cycles.
A note on pan-African providers
Flutterwave and Paystack both operate in some FCFA-zone countries, but neither appears in the Wycord verified registry for Senegal or Côte d'Ivoire as of this writing. If you are already integrated with either for Anglophone markets, check their current country documentation directly rather than assuming coverage extends to your FCFA target.
Where to look next
Verified payment APIs for Senegal are listed at wycord.com/best/apis-in-senegal. For the wider regional picture, including MCP servers and datasets for Francophone West Africa, browse by country at wycord.com/countries.