WafR is building the digital rails for Morocco’s small grocers: the informal merchants at the centre of daily commerce and community life. Founded in 2021, the company provides a mobile wallet platform that enables merchants to sell phone credit top-ups from all major telecom operators through a single application simplifying day-to-day operations and reducing working capital requirements. Small grocers account for nearly 90% of Morocco’s FMCG sales, in a market valued at approximately USD 30 billion. Over time, WafR has built a trusted national network of more than 17,000 merchants, embedding practical digital infrastructure at the heart of local communities. This network now forms the foundation for additional services, including bill payments and national remittances, with further offerings planned. AMV’s investment in WafR supports Morocco’s broader push for retail digitization, increased digital payments adoption, and expanded access to financial services — particularly for informal and underserved segments of the economy.
“People spend 40 percent of their income on groceries, making 90 percent of their purchases inside grocers, not big stores like Walmart or Carrefour. So 90 percent of sales in the FMCG sector are coming from small grocers. It’s a vast market valued at $30 billion in Morocco and $600 billion across Africa.” Ismail Bargach Co-founder, CEO
In Morocco, small grocers have long served as the front door to everyday needs for essentials, convenience, and community connection. Yet despite their importance, many informal merchants have remained disconnected from modern digital infrastructure and formal financial systems. WafR began by solving a practical pain point in telecom retail. Merchants previously managed multiple dealer phones and credit stocks across different operators, creating inefficiencies and high upfront capital requirements. WafR replaced that complexity with one simple workflow: a single, easy-to-use platform to sell top-ups across all major operators improving merchant operations while making access easier for customers. With that foundation in place, WafR is expanding its offering. National remittances and bill payments are rolling out, with peer-to-peer transfers planned to follow. By using its merchant network as distribution, WafR is helping close real gaps in access especially for underserved and rural communities.
WafR is led by a team with deep operational experience:
• Ismail Bargach, Co-founder & CEO – leads strategy and growth, drawing on experience scaling Heetch Morocco.
• Reda Sellak, Co-founder & CTO – leads product and infrastructure, ensuring the platform remains scalable, stable, and intuitive. Together, they are building more than a platform; they are upgrading the everyday retail infrastructure that underpins Morocco’s economy.
As a strategic investor, AMV supports WafR with capital and access to a broader regional network helping the team strengthen partnerships, sharpen go-to-market, and scale responsibly. WafR’s merchant-led model fits closely with Morocco’s priorities around digital payments and financial inclusion, while offering a scalable blueprint for similar markets where informal retail is the backbone of daily life. By enabling trusted local merchants to deliver digital services, WafR can unlock new participation in the formal economy for small businesses and expand practical financial access for the communities they serve.
WafR has succeeded by focusing on the high-frequency digital layer of the informal economy. By converting 20,000 'handouts' into active service nodes, Ismail and Reda have built a trusted distribution network that is both asset-light and incredibly resilient. This investment also marks the rollout of our rebranded 'Commercial Access' platform. This naming now formally aligns with our long-standing ambition: to go beyond capital by systematically plugging our portfolio into our regional ecosystem. Through these strategic partnerships, we are committed to accelerating WafR’s scale as a vital digital rail for the Moroccan retail landscape.This investment also marks the rollout of our rebranded 'Commercial Access' platform. This naming now formally aligns with our long-standing ambition: to go beyond capital by systematically plugging our portfolio into our regional ecosystem. Through these strategic partnerships, we are committed to accelerating WafR’s scale as a vital digital rail for the Moroccan retail landscape.
Omar Laalej Managing Director, Al Mada VenturesManaging Director, Al Mada Ventures