Botswana has a mobile phone in almost every hand, yet millions of adults remain outside the formal banking system. The country's mobile penetration stands at about 166%—roughly 4.2 million connections for a population of 2.5 million—while an estimated 38% of adults are unbanked.

Turning that connectivity into an account people can actually use to receive, store, and spend money is where Mukuru, a digital financial services and remittance company that built its business moving money for migrant workers across Africa, believes its new Companion Card comes in. Launched in Botswana in August, the Visa-branded card links directly to the Mukuru Wallet, letting customers spend their wallet balance at merchants without first transferring money into a traditional bank account. The card can be used for groceries, transport, utilities, school fees, and online purchases wherever Visa, the global digital payments network, is accepted. It is a model the company has already rolled out in other African markets, where wallet-linked cards tied to remittance flows serve customers who receive money digitally but previously had limited ways to spend it without cashing out.

For consumers who have traditionally received money through remittances or mobile wallets before cashing it out, the card removes a step: funds can remain digital and be spent directly.

Thembani Moyo, Country Manager for Mukuru Botswana, told TechCabal that the company is building on behaviour customers already understand. "Our customers already trust the Mukuru Wallet to manage their money. The Companion Card gives them a new, practical way to use it," he said. "So paying for groceries or topping up airtime is as easy as swiping a card, without ever needing to visit a branch or carry cash."

In Botswana, mobile connectivity has outpaced formal banking access. Branch density, affordability, documentation, financial literacy, irregular incomes, and continued reliance on cash all help explain why owning a phone has not automatically meant holding a bank account. It is a pattern seen across much of sub-Saharan Africa, where mobile money has often filled the gap left by limited branch networks, and where card issuance by non-bank providers has emerged as the next step in digitising everyday payments.

Visa sees the same gap, but from the infrastructure side.

"This partnership is a clear signal that Botswana's payments market is maturing beyond a simple cash-versus-remittances dynamic," Amon Magunje, Country Manager for Visa Botswana, told TechCabal. "For years, a lot of money movement here has been about cash-out: funds arrive via remittance or mobile wallet, and the consumer's next step is a trip to a cash point."

Merchant payments grew 42% to $155 billion in 2025, the fastest-growing mobile-money use case, according to GSMA data—a trend that makes linking wallets to card acceptance networks increasingly significant, since merchant and online payments depend on rails that cash-out habits bypass.

Visa already works with Botswana's three mobile network operators and supports more than three million Visa cards through 10 financial institutions in the country. But Magunje maintains that the next phase of payments growth will come from a different group.

"The Mukuru card extends that same secure rail to a wallet-first, non-bank customer base for the first time. It tells us the next phase of growth in Botswana payments won't just come from banks issuing more cards," he stated. "It will come from fintechs and wallet providers plugging into that infrastructure to reach consumers that banks haven't reached yet."

Access Bank views fintechs and wallet providers as potential partners as much as competitors. Mbatshi Masalila, the bank's Alliance and Partnerships Manager, said the industry is being forced to rethink what accessibility means.

"Innovations such as digital wallets and companion cards are accelerating the industry's focus on accessibility and convenience. Mukuru's wallet and card demonstrate that customers value solutions that are easy to access, require minimal infrastructure, and allow them to transact digitally without necessarily having a traditional bank account," noted Masalila.

Traditional banks still hold capabilities that wallets may not, from savings and credit to investments, risk management, and balance-sheet strength, leaving room for banks, fintechs, mobile operators, and payment networks to each play a different role in the same financial ecosystem.