While many of us chase the latest tech trends, innovative builders in Sub-Saharan Africa are leveraging a nearly 30-year-old messaging protocol to process hundreds of billions in transactions annually, reminding us that the best technology isn't always the shiniest, it's what actually solves customer problems.

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USSD, a 30-year-old messaging protocol requiring only 2G connectivity, powers hundreds of billions in financial transactions across Sub-Saharan Africa through companies like M-Pesa and Moniepoint. Behind simple menu-driven interfaces on feature phones, these platforms run sophisticated cloud architectures with ML-powered fraud detection and IoT systems. The technology demonstrates how builders solve real customer problems by choosing suitable tools over shiny ones, creating profitable businesses while serving communities with limited internet access and smartphone penetration.

What is USSD (and who cares)?

We have the internet and smartphones here, but even now, some services in my country still use USSD.
I think everything has two sides: good and bad. Fancy technology is not always a good thing, nor is old technology. The most important thing is that it does what it was made for, not what we see right now with many shiny technologies.

USSD is great for low capacity networks but it has a massive flaw, it is plain text. All security is at the providers’ mercy and will. Your MPesa password is transmitted clearly from your phone to Safaricom/Vodacom and for a willing soul at their infrastructure, they can see it and your account details (balance, names etc.

Still use USSD codes to check my mobile data limits and usage

still crazy to see some old tech survived many years