In a country where banks, shops and phone networks have been hit by war, one app wants to be the place where people pay for everything. Bravo, built by the Sudanese firm Istinara MAT, lets users top up airtime, pay bills, buy tickets and move money from a single wallet.
Bravo’s Android app has been downloaded more than a million times. Users sign up with a phone number. They can then top up credit on several networks, pay water and electricity bills, buy gift cards and send money to bank accounts. The app also takes international transfers, and it supports QR code and contactless (NFC) payments at shops. It lands as Sudan rebuilds its payment systems, but its success will depend on networks that stay up and on banks and merchants that connect.
Istinara MAT was founded in 2009 by Mostafa Salih Abuelyaman. Bravo is built to cut trips to service points. In plain terms, you can pay a bill from your phone instead of queueing. That matters in a country where many people have fled their homes and branches are far away. The App Store listing adds some detail. It shows top-ups for four operators, Zain, Sudani, MTN and Canar. It also lists payments for electricity, taxes and university fees, free balance checks, and QR payments. According to that listing, payments are drawn from users’ bank cards through the national EBS network.
The setting is hard. Fighting between the army and the Rapid Support Forces since April 2023 has displaced about eight million people and disrupted banks and markets. In January 2025, a currency change and cash shortages pushed many people onto bank apps. Prices have soared. By mid-2025 the pound had fallen from about 500 to the dollar in April 2023 to about 3,000. Digital payments became a lifeline. People use them to buy food, pay bills and move money without carrying cash through risky areas.
Bravo is entering a crowded field.
| App | Backer | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Bankak. | Bank of Khartoum. | Leading app, about 7M users. |
| Fawry. | Faisal Islamic Bank. | Bank-based transfers. |
| Ocash. | Omdurman National Bank. | Bank-based wallet. |
| Bede. | Zain Sudan. | Launched April 2025, also works on basic phones. |
| MyCash, RittalPay. | Independent wallets. | No bank account needed. |
| Bravo. | Istinara MAT. | Bills, top-ups, transfers, QR. |
The numbers need care. Bankak’s 7 million is a user count, from an older report. Bravo’s 1 million is Android downloads, which is not the same as active users. Still, it is a sizeable base. By our rough sum, a million downloads is about 2% of Sudan’s population of roughly 48 million. About 85% of Sudanese have no bank account, so there is room to grow. But most of these apps need a bank account, which limits them. Wallets that do not need one, such as Zain’s Bede, may reach more people.
The infrastructure is improving, slowly. In August 2026 the Central Bank of Sudan launched a national payment switch, run by its arm EBS. It links banks so they can send money to each other. Omdurman National Bank was the first to connect, and the first ATM withdrawal through the switch was completed. The plan is to connect all banks in phases. Even so, trouble remains. Between late August and early September, several banking apps, including Bankak and Fawry, had serious outages. Customers could not finish transfers, and some saw deductions with no payment made. An analyst described the apps as “isolated islands.” He called for a national gateway so money can move across banks and wallets, with Kenya’s mobile money as a model.
Why it matters: Sudan’s story is a test of whether fintech can keep people paying when almost everything else is broken. A wallet that bundles bills, airtime and transfers is useful because it saves trips and cash. But the real prize is reliability. If apps fail during an outage, users lose trust fast and go back to cash. Bravo’s promise of one app for many tasks only works if it stays online and connects to banks and shops. For African founders, the lesson is plain. In fragile markets, uptime and interoperability win customers more than new features do.
What to watch next: whether Bravo links to the new national switch, and whether it reports active users, not just downloads. Also watch how it performs during network outages, and whether it adds wallet features for people with no bank account. Another test is whether the Central Bank sets rules on outages and interoperability, as analysts have urged.
Sources: Adoni Conrad Quenum, “Sudan: Bravo combines payments and transfers into a mobile wallet,” 3 November 2026; Bravo Sudan; App Store listing for Bravo Sudan Pay; allAfrica on the Central Bank’s national payment switch; allAfrica and Dabanga on Bankak outages; OkayAfrica on how Sudan relies on digital payments; The Africanists on digital money apps in Sudan; Logistics Business Africa on Zain’s Bede wallet.
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