Mastercard and Cellulant have partnered to allow millions of consumers across Africa access to the global digital commerce market.
The partnership would enable customers to pay globally with Mastercard’s virtual payment solution linked to a Cellulant wallet named Tingg.
Executive Vice President, Market Development, Mastercard, Amnah Ajmal said Mastercard is collaborating with partners to build a strong digital economy that could unlock a world beyond cash where everyone thrives.
According to him, the partnership with Cellulant plays a role in advancing Mastercard’s worldwide commitment to financial inclusion to bring a total of one billion people, and 50 million micro and small businesses into the digital economy by 2025.
“The Mastercard virtual payment solution, linked to Cellulant’s payment gateway – Tingg, can unlock a host of opportunities for consumers, whether they have a bank account or not,” he said.
He noted that Mastercard’s technology enables its digital partners to redefine their consumer’s digital commerce interactions and experiences, adding that “by focusing on the provision of multi-use, Omni channel digital payment solutions, Mastercard is enabling its partners, such as Cellulant, to improve their operational efficiency, diversify their revenue, and transition seamlessly into digital commerce.”
Chief Revenue Officer, Cellulant Group, David Waithaka also said that partnering Mastercard would further open up pathways that would effectively position customers for the growth they need.
“We believe seamless payment experiences are the backbone for accelerating economic growth across Africa.
“MSMEs are the driving force for Africa’s economy and our work in digitising payments for businesses and their consumers enables the requisite foundation for innovation, economic development and financial inclusion,” he said.
Waithaka noted that alternative payment methods driven by mobile payments have increasingly begun to dominate the digital payments landscape.
“Consequently, consumers increasingly expect access to a broader range of online offers and digital financial services.
“The majority of these consumers obtain goods and services from micro, small and medium-sized businesses. Africa today has about a 100 million MSMEs but less than five per cent of their transactions are digitised.
“For these businesses, virtual cards offer a compelling path to digitisation with added benefits such as tracking and quick settlement of day-to-day payments, better management of customer and supplier relationships and minimised fraud risk all without sacrificing operational speed.
“Taking advantage of these opens up paths for growth through value chain financing and ease in raising working capital, “he said.
