Mastercard, Cellulant partner to usher Africans into global digital commerce market

By Chisom Nwatu

Global payment giant, Mastercard, has partnered with Cellulant to allow millions of Cellulant customers across Africa to shop and pay online with global merchants wherever Mastercard is accepted.

The partnership will enable consumers to pay globally with a Mastercard virtual payment solution linked to the Cellulant wallet, Tingg. Mastercard’s technology will enable consumers to shop online with or without a bank account, through a simple and secure payment experience, while unlocking a world beyond cash where everyone thrives.

With the Mastercard virtual payment solution linked to Cellulant’s payment gateway, Tingg, consumers will be able to shop from well-known global digital commerce brands, paying quickly and securely for leisure shopping, travel, accommodation, entertainment, streaming services and more, while in their home countries or travelling abroad.

Also, the partnership with Cellulant plays a role in advancing Mastercard’s worldwide commitment to financial inclusion to bring a total of 1 billion people, and 50 million micro and small businesses, into the digital economy by 2025.

Amnah Ajmal, Mastercard’s executive vice president, market development, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, said Mastercard’s technology enables its digital partners to redefine their consumers’ digital commerce interactions and experiences.

“By focusing on the provision of multi-use, omnichannel 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. We see the increasing proliferation of fintechs as a strategic opportunity to add value by creating more connections, better user experiences and greater choice for consumers,” Ajmal said.

Across sub-Saharan Africa, mobile devices are the primary channel used to connect to the internet. Therefore, consumers increasingly expect access to a broader range of online offers and digital financial services.

According to GSMA, smartphone connections are expected to reach 678 million in 2025, with a penetration of 65 percent. As a result, alternative payment methods driven by mobile payments have increasingly begun to dominate the digital payments landscape.

Africa today has about a 100 million MSMEs but less than 5 percent of their transactions are digitized, while majority of these consumers obtain goods and services from micro, small and medium-sized businesses.

However, for these businesses, virtual cards offer a compelling path to digitization with added benefits such as tracking, reconciliation and quick settlement of day-to-day payments, better management of customer and supplier relationships and minimized fraud risk all without sacrificing operational speed. Thus, taking advantage of these opens up paths for growth through value chain financing and ease in raising working capital.

“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,” said David Waithaka, chief revenue officer, Cellulant Group.

“By partnering with Mastercard, we are looking to further open up pathways that effectively position our customers for the growth they need,” he said.

Cellulant is a leading pan-African payments technology company that provides locally relevant and alternative payment methods for global, regional and local merchants.

The company has over the last 18 years built an extensive and unparalleled payments platform that provides local, regional and global businesses with a one-stop-shop payment solution offering a frictionless payment experience for their needs across the continent. Covering 35 countries across Africa with about 300 payment integrations, Cellulant helps stitch together the fabric of Africa’s commercial landscape making interoperability possible.