(CNN) — Since Airbnb launched in 2008, it has taken the travel industry by storm. Sharing a home or renting an apartment has become a fashionable, and often more affordable, alternative to booking a hotel room.
More than a decade later, the company has 6 million active listings worldwide in more than 200 countries. But one region it’s yet to crack is Africa.
Despite rapid growth in the last decade, Airbnb had around 130,000 listings across the whole continent in 2018 (the company would not disclose any more recent figures), with the majority in South Africa. For comparison, in May 2019, there were more than 80,000 properties listed in London alone, according to city authorities.
Cameroonian startup founder Nghombombong Minuifuong puts this down not to a lack of demand or supply, but the absence of one payment method that’s especially prevalent on the continent. Guests and hosts on Airbnb are unable to use mobile money, a system that lets users send and receive money through a cell…
