Pakistani software houses and payment companies can now learn to build on Mojaloop, the open-source software used around the world to run instant payments between banks and mobile wallets, through a State Bank of Pakistan programme that opened in Karachi on Tuesday. The Mojaloop training is the first project run under the collaboration framework of the SBP Innovation Hub, and it will spend 16 weeks turning local firms into people who can install, run and support this kind of payment infrastructure themselves.
- Programme: Mojaloop Country Accelerator Program for Pakistan
- Length: about 16 weeks, November 2026 to February 2027
- Format: self-paced online lessons, expert sessions, and a five-day in-person workshop (2 to 6 November) at the SBP head office in Karachi
- Teachers: the Mojaloop Foundation, the non-profit that maintains the software
- Open to: system implementers, digital financial service providers and payment hub operators
How the Mojaloop Training Programme Works
The course pairs Pakistani talent with overseas expertise. Learners study online at their own pace, join debrief sessions with Mojaloop experts, and then gather in Karachi for five days of hands-on exercises and technical deep dives with the Mojaloop team. Afterwards they stay part of the wider Mojaloop developer community, which is the point of the exercise: the Foundation says it runs accelerators like this only where a government has committed to officially exploring Mojaloop, and it pairs experienced integrators with newer ones so that local firms can later build and support payment systems without flying in help.
Speaking at the Karachi launch, SBP Deputy Governor Saleem Ullah described the course as a chance to pair Pakistani talent with global expertise so institutions can deliver practical payment tools. The Innovation Hub behind it was created under the State Bank’s Vision 2028 to work with banks, fintechs, technology firms and universities, and its collaboration framework is deliberately non-exclusive and neutral between technologies and providers.
Photo: Deejawwad, via Wikimedia Commons
What Mojaloop Is, and What It Is Not (Yet)
Mojaloop is free, open-source software, first built to a specification funded by the Gates Foundation, that acts as a shared switching layer between banks, wallets and other payment providers. Instead of every provider building connections to every other provider, a Mojaloop hub lets money move instantly between any of them, which is how it has been deployed in more than a dozen countries, mostly to bring small and rural users into digital finance.
Two honest cautions belong in any report of this story. First, the SBP has not said it will adopt Mojaloop for any Pakistani payment system, and nothing changes for customers yet: this is a skills programme, not a launch. Pakistan already has Raast, its national instant payment system, and the accelerator is about widening the pool of local experts who understand interoperable payment design. Second, the State Bank has not published which firms are taking part. Applications for the first cohort closed on 18 October, and the bank has not said whether the programme will repeat after February 2027.
Another Brick in Pakistan’s Payments Wall
Even with those cautions, the direction of travel is clear. Pakistan’s technology sector is pushing outward, with a P@SHA delegation recently taking a $15 billion export goal to Oslo Innovation Week, while at home the digital payments industry keeps collecting recognition, including JazzCash’s silver award at Money20/20 USA. The central bank is investing in the same ecosystem from the regulatory side, alongside milestones such as its forecast of $25 billion in foreign exchange reserves by June 2027.
Karandaaz Pakistan, which supports digital finance in the country, welcomed the accelerator as a chance to harness global expertise and open-source technology for payment solutions tailored to Pakistan’s needs. If the first cohort finishes in February with firms able to deploy and maintain interoperable payment systems, the Mojaloop training will have done something quietly valuable: made sure the next upgrade to how Pakistan pays is built, at least in part, by Pakistanis.
Sources
- Tech Prolonged, SBP starts Mojaloop training for Pakistani payment developers
- Mojaloop Foundation, Applications Open: Mojaloop Country Accelerator Program for Pakistan
- PakGold (Business Recorder), SBP Launches Mojaloop Accelerator to Boost Digital Payments and Inclusion
- Photo: Tech Prolonged
- Photo: Deejawwad, via Wikimedia Commons
Umar Farooq is the founder and editor of Good News Pakistan. An engineer by profession and a writer by passion, he started the site in December 2022 to share good news from Pakistan, and has since written and edited more than 200 articles about its people, sports, science, business and world records. He believes the story of Pakistan is bigger than its headlines, and that good news, told honestly, is worth telling every day.