Payments giant Visa has pledged to invest $1 billion in Africa by 2027, expanding its digital payment footprint in the continent’s untapped markets.
The pledge was announced on Wednesday during the US-Africa Summit held in Washington by Visa CEO Alfred F. Kelly. The company said in a statement that it plans to scale further its operations in Africa and deepen collaboration with strategic partners, including governments, financial institutions, mobile network operators, fintechs and merchants through the pledge.
“Visa has been investing in Africa for several decades to grow a truly local business, and today our commitment to the continent remains as firm and unwavering as ever,” said the Visa CEO in a statement. “Every day, Visa supports digital commerce and money movement in every country across the continent, and Africa remains central to Visa’s long-term growth plans. We look forward to continuing to work closely with our partners to advance the financial ecosystem, accelerate digitization and to build resilient, innovative, and inclusive economies that will create shared opportunity and further spur Africa’s digital economy.”
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Africa has a booming population that lacks financial inclusion, creating a huge market for players in the payment industry that Visa wants to leverage on.
There are currently more than 500 million people in Africa who are underbanked or unbanked, less than 50% of the continent’s adult population have made or received digital payments and more than 40 million merchants do not accept digital payments, according to Visa.
The payments company has seen its investments accelerate across Africa through partnerships, cementing its role as a key player in the advancement of digital payments in the continent. Visa said the new investment will facilitate additional opportunities to expand financial inclusion in Africa in the next five years.
“Africa is experiencing an unprecedented digital acceleration, with a growing number of consumers, merchants and businesses realizing the benefits of secure and convenient digital payments to fuel commerce and money movement,” said Aida Diarra, the senior vice president of Visa Sub-Saharan Africa. “Over the past year, Visa has continued growing our investment in Africa through new offices, new innovations and solutions, and programs that are directly supporting financial inclusion. The investment pledge outlines our long-term commitment to Africa and the work we will do to help advance the financial ecosystem.”
Recently, Visa has been expanding its operation in Africa, creating digital opportunities with new offices across the continent. The payment giant has established local operations for the first time in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and Sudan to help support and strengthen the local financial ecosystem, pushing its offices across Africa to 10.
Part of the expansion includes the unveiling of the first dedicated Visa Sub-Saharan Africa Innovation Studio, in Nairobi, Kenya, to provide a state-of-the-art environment to bring together clients and partners to co-create future-ready payment and commerce solutions.
Through this investment in Kenya, Visa offers services such as the Tap to Phone; integrating Visa Direct, its global money movement network, into African solutions; and running the Visa Everywhere Initiative program, where various African startups have showcased their payment innovations. The Visa Everywhere Initiative program launched dedicated country programs in Ethiopia and Egypt,
The company has also launched new programs to support women’s empowerment together with financial partners, including She’s Next, which is bringing funding, mentoring and networking opportunities to female entrepreneurs leading growing SMBs in Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, and South Africa.