Across Niger, from the markets of Niamey to rural communities, small brightly colored kiosks are becoming important access points to financial services. Yet cash still dominates daily transactions, and trust in digital payments remains limited. In 2022, mobile broadband penetration stood at about 53 percent nationally, but only around 19 percent among women, underscoring persistent gender gaps. Although the shift toward digital finance has begun, limited literacy, weak infrastructure, and low agent presence in rural areas still constrain adoption.

To accelerate the transition, under the Digital Finance for Resilience (DFS4Res) programme, funded by the European Union and the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), UNCDF supported Zamani Telecom, a Nigerian telecommunications provider, with a $225,000 performance-based grant to recruit and train more than 11,500 financial agents, scale operations, and expand access to financial services for women, youth, specifically in rural communities.

Looking ahead, this catalytic support is expected to help position the company to attract additional private capital as operations scale.

Opening the digital finance market to women and youth

In many rural and low-income areas, private operators are often reluctant to invest due to lower profitability and higher operational risks. Market expansion alone does not guarantee equitable access. To address this, UNCDF worked with Zamani Telecom to set inclusion targets requiring that at least 30 percent of recruited agents be women and 50 percent youth, helping ensure that market growth translated into more inclusive economic participation and opportunity.

Supported under this initiative, women like Rabi Guéro Beidou and Fadilatou Salou Abdoulaye are driving this shift. From behind their kiosks, they help customers perform digital financial transactions, including deposits, withdrawals, and transfers, while building trust in mobile money within their communities. By facilitating these transactions, they help households safeguard their savings, avoid long and costly journeys, and manage daily expenses more effectively. Through their work, they are not only facilitating access to finance but also contributing to women’s economic empowerment and strengthening local resilience.

Income, independence, and agency

For Rabi, becoming a Zamani cash agent was a deliberate step toward independence.

“After finishing my studies, when Zamani offered me the opportunity to become an agent, I saw it as a chance to work, support my family, and contribute to my community,” she explains.

Since 2022, she has assisted customers with daily transactions, reducing the need for long journeys to access cash and improving financial access in surrounding rural areas.

Rabi Guéro Beidou has been a Zamani Cash kiosk agent since 2022. Driven by her passion for digital financial services, she has used her role to secure her own financial stability and support her family. Despite ongoing challenges, she remains resilient and encourages other women to explore opportunities within the digital finance ecosystem. Photo: Mahamadou Noura / UNCDF.

In Niamey, Fadilatou’s path was shaped by different challenges. After several attempts to continue her studies, she chose a practical income-generating activity that would allow her to build skills and stability. Becoming a Zamani Cash agent gave her structured training and a steady source of income.

“I can now cover my own expenses and help at home,” she says.

For both women, earning a stable income has brought renewed confidence, despite the challenges of balancing domestic responsibilities and addressing hesitation among some customers toward mobile money. “Courage is essential in this line of work,” Rabi reflects.

Fadilatou Salou Abdoulaye overcame academic setbacks to build a professional path as a Zamani Cash kiosk agent. Over the past two years, her work in digital financial services has enabled her to gain independence, support her family, and inspire other women to seize opportunities in digital finance. Photo: Mahamadou Noura / UNCDF.

Strengthening the agent network

According to Gao Issa, representative of Zamani Telecom, expansion into rural and underserved areas was initially constrained by operational costs, limited liquidity, and challenges in recruiting and retaining women agents in a sector largely dominated by men. With UNCDF’s catalytic support, Zamani strengthened its agent network, invested in structured training, and expanded into areas previously considered too risky.

As a result, more women are entering the mobile money sector with the skills and confidence to operate successfully. Training in mobile money operations, customer relations, and business management has improved performance and retention, while increasing women’s participation in the digital finance workforce.

Zamani is also introducing measures to improve safety and flexibility, including alternating shifts between male and female agents to reduce risks associated with long working hours and late returns home.

A Zamani customer completes a digital transaction at a community kiosk, using a printed QR code scanned by a mobile money agent. The interaction reflects the growing role of last‑mile service points in expanding access to digital financial services. Photo: PIDAGRES/UNCDF.

Women at the center of market expansion

From Maradi to Niamey, small kiosks run by women are becoming trusted access points for digital financial services, helping households manage money more securely and reducing the need for long journeys to access cash.

Despite competition and market fluctuations, the UNCDF–Zamani partnership has expanded access to digital financial services across Niger. Through UNCDF’s catalytic support from 2022 to 2025, Zamani has recruited and trained more than 11,500 agents, more than doubling its initial target and significantly expanding its reach in underserved communities.

As kiosks multiplied across markets and rural areas, adoption grew quickly. More than 266,000 people have opened Zamani Cash accounts through these kiosks with over 27,000 accounts active as the network matured.

As the DFS4Res programme enters its final phase, the journeys of Rabi and Fadilatou demonstrate how targeted investment in women’s participation in digital finance can help build more inclusive and resilient financial ecosystems. By creating jobs for women and youth, expanding financial inclusion, strengthening digital literacy, and improving access to capital, the initiative contributes to more stable livelihoods and greater financial independence. In areas where economic opportunities remain limited, this also helps reduce economic vulnerability and the pressure for youth migration in search of work.