Carbon partners with Visa to enable payments across Africa

By Pavithra R

Carbon, a pan-African fintech company providing access to basic financial services for Africans, has announced a strategic five-year partnership with Visa, the leader in digital payments, to offer both digital and physical issuance of Visa cards to its customers.

Carbon is launching Visa debit cards in the third quarter of 2021, a year after shifting from being a leading digital lending company to becoming a digital bank offering a range of financial services including, savings and payments. By leveraging Visa’s payment functionalities, Carbon will deploy an instant issuance process in 3 key markets including Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya.

“Carbon is focused on delivering an unparalleled banking experience that is both safe and reliable across all touchpoints. We want more customers to enjoy some of our popular products like Carbon Zero through their Carbon card, and key to achieving this is our partnership with a leading payments and fintech-friendly company like Visa,” said Chijioke Dozie, CEO/Co-founder of Carbon.

The collaboration between the two companies includes financial support from Visa and will be spread over a 5x`-year partnership period. The funds will be used to provide implementation and marketing support to help drive further growth and adoption of Visa’s payment solutions across Carbon’s products. Incorporating Visa cards to its payments stack will also enable seamless access to Carbon Zero, the company’s Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) product, which allows consumers zero percent financing on items they need the most but cannot afford immediately.

“The rapid pace of technology innovation has driven a powerful shift in business and consumer expectations in finance. Whether it is changing the way people invest, manage money, receive loans, or send real-time payments to friends and family, Visa is a natural partner for fintechs including Carbon, providing them with new ways to reach their customers through Visa’s vast network and global scale,” said Kemi Okusanya, Vice President, Visa West Africa.