The number you see when you press send is rarely the number that lands on your family’s phone. Between your bank account in Canada, the UK or the US and a mobile money wallet in Accra or Kampala, up to four separate costs can trim the amount, and only some of them look like fees. … Read more
A software developer in East Legon closes out August with three new client contracts and a waitlist. A guesthouse owner in Elmina closes out the same month wondering whether to lay off two of her four staff. Both are running real businesses in the same country, in the same quarter. The Ghana Statistical Service’s latest … Read more
In a fabric stall off Kingston’s Coronation Market, a trader who has spent a decade importing kente and adinkra cloth from Accra watched President John Dramani Mahama’s motorcade roll past on the evening news. She has no direct way to pay her Ghanaian supplier without routing through three separate services and losing money at every … Read more
Quick answer: withdrawing above GH₵2,000 costs a flat GH₵20. Sending above GH₵1,000 costs a flat GH₵7.50. At Makola Market in Accra, a fabric trader closes out a Friday afternoon by sending her supplier in Kumasi GH₵1,200 for the next batch of prints. She dials *170#, confirms the transfer, and only notices the GH₵7.50 fee once … Read more