CNN’s Marketplace Africa has profiled Hubtel, highlighting the company’s transformation into one of Ghana’s leading payment services providers.
The feature traced Hubtel’s growth from a local tech startup to a dominant force in digital finance, underscoring its role in shaping Ghana’s fast-expanding digital economy.
The feature included an exclusive interview with Alex Bram, CEO and Co-founder of Hubtel, who articulated the strategic pivots and core philosophies that have driven the company’s success since its founding two decades ago.
The CNN segment highlighted Hubtel as a clear example of homegrown African innovation at work.
The narrative focused on the crucial role Hubtel plays in digitizing commerce and facilitating seamless financial transactions, a critical function in a rapidly digitizing market.
The interview was structured around key strategic themes, labelled as “Points,” that defined Hubtel’s journey and future vision:
• The Profit Point (Enabling Digital Commerce): This focused on Hubtel’s core business of helping businesses collect payments from diverse sources—cash, mobile money, cards, and other digital wallets. Bram highlighted that Hubtel digitizes storefronts for a wide range of customers, from “the very small micro-enterprises” (such as a woman selling corn or plantain) to large corporations providing utility and entertainment services.
• The Homegrown Point (The Ghanaian Advantage): Bram stressed that Hubtel’s Development is inextricably linked to the story of Ghana. Ghana’s early opening up of the mobile telephony market in the 1990s created a fertile ground for companies to build digital systems, providing the market momentum to succeed. He also noted that Ghana “got it right with mobile money and interbank interoperability” early on, which has been key to the financial ecosystem’s growth.
• The Pivot Point (Strategic Evolution): The segment detailed Hubtel’s critical transition.
The company was founded on the idea of making SMS useful for businesses, a path they followed for quite some time. The major shift, or “pivot,” occurred around 2015 when mobile money began to truly take off. Hubtel strategically moved its business away from micro-billing (like airtime billing) into becoming a leading platform for mobile money and payments.
• The Communication Point (Working with Government): Alex addressed the complexities of working with the public sector, noting that when serving government and public service providers, Hubtel brings the same level of innovation and quality used for private businesses. He underscored the need for engagement and communication with the government, acknowledging that a “private sector lens” cannot always be applied without modification.
• The Future Point (Uncapped Growth): Looking ahead, Alex highlighted the massive untapped potential. Despite being Ghana’s leading Fintech, Hubtel still has significant room to grow, currently only processing a fraction of the total volume of digital transactions in the economy. With a merchant base poised for expansion, the company’s focus remains on scaling its platform to drive deeper penetration of digital finance.
Building Homegrown Solutions for a Digital Africa
Hubtel’s ability to evolve from a messaging company (formerly SMSGH) to a comprehensive payment and commerce platform is a prime example of African businesses building world-class solutions for African challenges.
By addressing the complexity of fragmented payment systems, Hubtel enables a single, seamless channel for businesses to operate, driving digital inclusivity for both formal and informal sectors.
As Bram stated, the long-term vision is clear: “We want to be able to step it up. We think that Ghana still gives us a lot of room to grow. Even as the number one Fintech here, we still process just about 12% of the volume of transactions… This economy has over 800,000 such businesses. There is still a lot of room to grow.”
Why This Feature Matters
Marketplace Africa is CNN’s flagship business program dedicated to highlighting companies, leaders, and innovations that are shaping Africa’s economic future.
By showcasing homegrown success stories, the program provides global audiences with a deeper understanding of the continent’s entrepreneurial energy and technological advancement.
Being profiled on Marketplace Africa affirms Hubtel’s strategy, resilience, and impact. The feature presents Hubtel not only as a leader in Ghana’s fintech space but also as a company setting the pace for digital innovation across Africa.
The coverage underscores the growing international recognition of Ghana’s technology ecosystem, with Hubtel at its core.
By bridging informal and formal commerce, enabling everyday transactions, and driving financial inclusion, Hubtel continues to shape the future of Africa’s digital economy.
