How Mobile Money Is Changing Business in Cameroon — And How to Track It

Mobile Money has done something remarkable in Cameroon: it has made cashless payments accessible to everyone, including the millions of people who have never had a bank account. Orange Money and MTN MoMo are now the primary payment method for a significant proportion of small business transactions.

The tracking problem

When a customer pays by Mobile Money, the money arrives. But in most small businesses, it arrives invisibly — the transaction happens on the phone, but it is never recorded in the business sales system. By the end of the day, the business owner knows they received some payments, but not which sale they corresponded to.

Reconciling Mobile Money with sales

In ShopTrack, when you record a sale you choose the payment method — cash, Mobile Money, or credit. If payment is by Mobile Money, you select whether it is MTN MoMo or Orange Money. The transaction is recorded with the payment type, the amount, and the timestamp. At the end of the day, your report shows total cash received, total Mobile Money received broken down by network, and total credit outstanding.

Multiple staff, multiple phones

In businesses where staff handle Mobile Money payments, ShopTrack records who processed each transaction. Every sale is attributed to the staff member who recorded it.

According to the GSMA State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money, Cameroon is among the top 10 African markets by Mobile Money transaction volume. The INS Cameroun reports that Mobile Money transactions have grown by over 40% annually for the past three years.

ShopTrack records every sale by payment method — cash, MTN MoMo, Orange Money, or credit. Free plan available at shoptrack.org.