As MTN Guinea seeks to strength its financial offerings in the country, Optasia, a Fintech service provider, has announced the launch of a microloan service with Ecobank Guinea, via MTN Mobile Money (MoMo).

The service will be offered to MTN’s subscribers in the country under the Ecobank product name Pret Xpress, which is powered by Optasia’s AI-led platform. The Optasia platform provides a financial solution to the unbanked and underbanked.

The company said the deployment is the first MoMo loan service offered by MTN in Guinea. MTN Guinea has over 4.25 million subscribers and over 800,000 active mobile money wallet users.

Optasia has said this deal kicks off a series of deployments made on MTN’s networks in Uganda, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Benin, among other countries.

Guinea joins more than 30 countries in Africa where Optasia operates, supporting more than 560 million end customers of mobile network operators and financial institutions.

Mark Muller, Optasia CEO said, “Expanding our offering to the people of Guinea through valued partners MTN and Ecobank is a significant part in our growth plan as a company. Such high-profile collaboration with our strategic partners reinforces our belief in driving financial inclusion.”

Last year, Ecobank senior Fintech advisor Djiba Diallo told the media that partnerships are an integral part of the bank’s strategy to reach unbanked consumers.