Pan-African digital money transfer provider SimbaPay has expanded its mobile money transfer service to Ghana and Uganda, allowing Ghanaians and Ugandans living in Europe to instantly send money to mobile phones back home.

SimbaPay already delivers money transfers via mobile money and bank accounts to other African countries, including Nigeria and Kenya, and is seeking more destinations and partners for addition in 2017.

Ghanaians and Ugandans living in Europe with a bank account, debit card or credit card are now able to use the SimbaPay app from any mobile phone, tablet or computer. Transfers are credited within seconds to a recipient's mobile money wallet.

"This is the perfect Christmas gift to Ghanaians and Ugandans living in Europe who have been asking when SimbaPay will expand coverage to their home countries" said Nyasinga Onyancha, CEO of SimbaPay.

"By delivering money via existing mobile money wallet services, many recipients who previously could not access formal financial services can now do so".

It has been quite a year for SimbaPay, which took part in the first ever Barclays Accelerator programme, powered by Techstars, in Cape Town. It was also named winner of the DEMO Africa event in Johannesburg.

May saw the company raise the single transaction limit for remittances processed on its platform to US$45,000, with the increase aimed at ensuring sending money home and buying property across Africa becomes a lot easier.

The move was designed to allow larger purchases, such as those of property and vehicles, and payment of hospital bills or university fees by African immigrants in the European countries, to be possible through the SimbaPay app.