Visa has pledged to invest $1 billion in Africa to accelerate digital transformation.
Visa will use the money to scale operations, deploy new technologies and deepen collaboration with its partners in the next five years. These include merchants, governments, financial institutions (FIs), FinTechs and mobile network operators, according to a corresponding press release.
The inclusion of mobile network operators reflects the different role Visa plays in Africa’s payment ecosystem compared to the United States.
As well as acting as a partner to banks that issue credit and debit cards, Visa’s African operations require it to work alongside the continent’s mobile money and alternative payment FinTechs, which use solutions including mobile wallets and virtual cards to bring digital payments to unbanked populations.
With its structural role in global transactions, Visa’s investment could unlock untapped potential for payment digitization on the continent.
Less than 50% of the adult population of Africa have made or received digital payments, and more than 40 million African merchants don’t accept them, according to the release.
With those numbers, Visa isn’t the only player in global payments investing in Africa.