By Business Insider Reporter
In a strategic move to accelerate its transition to a digitally-driven and less cash-dependent economy, Tanzania recently dispatched a high-level delegation of digital economy experts to Japan to draw lessons from one of the world’s most mature digital ecosystems.
The visit, hosted at the Tokyo Innovation Base (TIB), marked a significant step in the country’s efforts to learn from global innovation ecosystems and adapt best practices to fit Tanzania’s rapidly evolving digital landscape.
The delegation featured key institutions shaping Tanzania’s digital economy, including the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MoCIT), the TEHAMA Commission, the Universal Communications Service Access Fund (UCSAF), the e-Government Authority (eGA), TISEZA, TTCL, and the Commission for the Protection of Personal Information.
Their collective mission reflects a unified national strategy: to create a technology-driven society that leverages innovation to enhance service delivery, financial inclusion, and economic growth.
These institutions play a pivotal role in Tanzania’s digital economy by shaping the country’s policy, infrastructure, and services. MoCIT sets policy and coordinates national digital initiatives, ensuring alignment across agencies.
UCSAF bridges the digital divide, deploying over 2,150 towers to connect 29 million people and supporting ICT education and inclusion. eGA digitizes public services through platforms like e-Office and GovNet, enhancing efficiency, transparency, and citizen engagement.
The TEHAMA Commssion maintains government ICT systems, translating strategies into functional services. While TISEZA’s role is to promote and lure investors, the Commission for the Protection of Personal Information (CPPI) safeguards data, building trust essential for cashless and digital services adoption.
Established by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government in 2023, TIB serves as an international hub for cutting-edge innovation, startup incubation, and cross-sector collaboration.
The Tanzanian delegation’s engagement at the hub included deep dives into how Japan supports tech entrepreneurship through mentorship, technical training, and access to capital – insights that are critical as Tanzania works to modernize its financial systems and reduce dependence on physical cash.
TTCL’s participation underscores its strategic role in building a resilient digital infrastructure capable of supporting Tanzania’s broader vision of a digital economy.
As the country ramps up its efforts to foster digital inclusion and enable cashless transactions, TTCL is expanding its services to support mobile payments, e-government platforms, and broadband connectivity – all essential to unlocking a digitally inclusive future.
Tanzania has made notable progress in its shift to a less cash economy, driven by a combination of mobile money platforms, expanding digital infrastructure, and regulatory reforms that encourage fintech development.
The visit to Japan builds on this momentum by equipping stakeholders with fresh insights on how to design and implement digital ecosystems that are sustainable, inclusive, and locally relevant. As TTCL and its partners continue to champion the digital transformation agenda, Tanzania is positioning itself as a regional leader in technology innovation – with a firm eye on becoming a smart, cash-lite economy.
Tanzania’s progress toward a “Less‑Cash” economy
Tanzania has made impressive strides in digital payments and financial inclusion — a core dimension of a digital economy. Key figures:
| Indicator | 2023 → 2024 / 2024 data |
| Active mobile‑money accounts/users | Increased to 63.2 million in 2024, up from 51.7 million in 2023. |
| Mobile‑money transaction volume (annual) | Reached 6.41 billion transactions in 2024. |
| Mobile‑money transaction value | Jumped to TSh 198.9 trillion) in 2024 — a 28.5 percent increase over 2023. |
| Mobile‑money agents (nationwide) | Grew to 1.48 million agents in 2024. |
| POS infrastructure (card/wallet‑based in‑person payments) | Number of POS terminals has roughly doubled (from 4,400 to 9,655 over a certain period) in recent years, supporting increasing merchant adoption of cashless payments. |
| Merchant adoption of digital payments | Number of merchants accepting digital payments more than doubled: from 657,000 in 2023 to 1.33 million in 2024. |
These figures show a clear shift: Digital payments (mobile money, POS, e‑payments) are becoming mainstream — not just for peer transfers, but for retail, services, government payments, and broader commerce.
