3 BNPL companies in Africa to watch out for in 2023

By Edlyn Cardoza

With the constant revolution in every industry, the payments space grows with another option of Buy Now, Pay Later. Buy Now Pay Later is revolutionising the way customers make purchases online and even in-store by making payments more flexible and convenient for shoppers.

Buy Now, Pay Later, shortly known as BNPL, allows customers to divide payments into installments with companies. BNPL companies are popping up across the e-commerce sector. BNPL apps are easy to use and have low-interest rates, allowing customers to make everyday purchases.

With BNPL as an option, business owners can offer customers a simple way to make payments while ensuring business owners also receive the total amount immediately.

As a business owner, BNPL makes things easier for your customers and can increase your bottom line. With BNPL, you can offer your customers a simple way to make payments on purchases while ensuring you receive the total amount immediately.

Africa represents a significant growth opportunity for BNPL service providers. According to reports, BNPL in Africa was expected to reach $7.18 billion in 2022. Here are 3 BNPL companies in Africa to watch out for in 2023:

• Lipa Later

Lipa Later Group is a leading FinTech platform that empowers consumers to Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) for essential products and services. Lipa Later started in Kenya in 2018 and operates in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and Nigeria. One of Lipa Later’s main objectives is to empower African businesses to do more by enabling e-commerce, financial inclusion, and shopping on a centralised and fully integrated platform.

Lipa Later is not only changing the consumer credit landscape across Africa, which to date has been largely inaccessible for most, but also catalysing the future of shopping, e-commerce, and payments.

• Shahry

Shahry is an AI-powered mobile credit card. Launched in 2019, they have grown exponentially, accelerating access to credit for unbanked Egyptians. Positioned as a buy-now-pay-later app for goods, Shahry offers Egypt’s only fully digital lending solution where applying for credit happens without a `wet signature.`

Shahry is also Egypt’s only startup funded and partnered with a regulated bank, allowing them unlimited access to financing and industry expertise to build a radical and innovative FinTech platform.

• Sympl

Sympl is a BNPL platform in Egypt. Founded in 2021, Sympl is a platform that empowers sellers to sell their products and services directly to bank cardholders on short-term, interest-free payment plans that best-fit customer preferences. Sympl allows customers to manage their expenses better and save money by paying in three, four, or five payments on a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly basis without interest, hidden fees, or an application process.

They allow any walk-in customer with an eligible bank card who enters a merchant’s store or visits a merchant’s online shop to pay later without any application process or documents required.