Vivo Energy, the company that distributes and markets Shell branded products in 16 African markets, and MTN on Wednesday announced a pan-African agreement to expand both companies’ footprint in providing services to their growing customer base.

Vivo Energy operates 1,430 Shell branded service stations and aims to be the most respected energy company in Africa. MTN operates in 22 countries in Africa and the Middle East, with 207.8 million subscribers.

Through this alliance, both companies aim to provide MTN and Shell customers more points of service across Vivo Energy’s network of Shell service stations. It will initially be rolled out in five markets where Vivo Energy and MTN currently overlap namely: Botswana, Ivory Coast, Guinea Conakry, Ghana and Uganda.

The scope of the alliance includes the following:

• Shell service stations will be Cash In and Cash Out points for MTN Mobile Money customers
• Shell service Stations will provide float to MTN Mobile Money agents
• MTN Mobile Money will be accepted as a mode of payment for products and service in all Shell Service Stations
• Shell service stations will stock and sell MTN airtime through MTN  Mobile Money

Mr David Mureithi, Executive Vice President in charge of Supply and Marketing at Vivo Energy, states that: “This alliance confirms Vivo Energy’s objective to continuously bring innovative solutions to our growing number of customers."

"African markets have been driving the growth of mobile money over the past few years and with the increasing use of mobile technology on the continent, it will be touching even more Africans in the near future. We are confident that, together with MTN, we shall remain at the forefront and offer our customers the opportunity to use a modern money transfer and payment tool on our service stations.” 

According to Pieter Verkade, MTN‎ Group Chief Commercial Officer, “Partnerships like the one we have established with Vivo Energy present an opportunity for MTN to make the lives of millions of MTN Mobile Money customers a whole lot brighter, by adding more convenient and easily accessible mobile money merchants to our already extensive footprint.”

MTN Mobile Money enables users to perform local and international money transfers, make utility and other service payments, purchase airtime and access a range of mobile financial products. As of 31stDecember 2013, MTN Mobile Money had 14.8 million registered users and was available in 14 countries.