Mastercard partners with Samsung, Airtel and Asante; drives digital inclusion in Africa

By Pavithra R

Mastercard has announced partnership with Samsung, Airtel Africa and Asante Financial Services Group (Asante) to launch Pay-on-Demand payments platform and drive the digital economy across Africa.

Built by Mastercard Labs, the platform aims to bring convenient financing opportunities to consumers, entrepreneurs and merchants across Africa, helping them to combat the socio-economic problems they face from restricted access to financing. By enabling digital access to everyday products and services for under-served consumers and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), the payments platform is looking forward to drive digital and financial inclusion and lead to improved economic possibilities for people and businesses.

By leveraging Samsung’s pay-on-demand mobile devices and Asante’s insight as a leading provider of digital financial services, the innovative platform will provide handset loans for consumers while Airtel Africa will coordinate the delivery of the product.

“At Mastercard, we are committed to accelerating the growth of digital financial services in Africa. As market organizers, we are always partnering with like-minded organizations to advance financial inclusion for individuals and MSMEs by empowering them with the right digital solutions. This Pay-on-Demand platform enables us to deliver on that promise, giving consumers an opportunity to participate in digital commerce while fostering digital and financial inclusion across the country,” said Amnah Ajmal, Executive Vice President, Market Development, Middle East and Africa, Mastercard.

The collaboration expects to deliver convenient asset financing to consumers and MSMEs through their smart handsets at a low upfront cost while distributing payments over time. With the usage of the product, individual or business will establish a digital transaction history, which can be leveraged to make other financing solutions accessible, such as credit, savings, investments and insurance.

Pay-on-Demand users are envisioned to access digital payments through Mastercard Quick Response (QR Codes) and Mastercard’s virtual card functionality on their Airtel mobile money app enabling them to make digital transactions across face to face and online merchants.

“Samsung is proud to be the provider of world-class devices with an end-to-end security platform with always-on protection. This partnership will benefit the people across Africa, starting with Uganda and will create affordable payment plans to access Samsung devices. There is so much growth opportunity in the region and we believe that this partnership will help accelerate economic growth in the mobile industry,” said Sung Yoon, CEO and President of Samsung Africa.

Recently, Mastercard collaborated with industry partners bringing transparency in digital banking applications.

Piloting in Uganda, the intiative is part of a broader digital transformation partnership between Mastercard and Airtel Africa across 14 markets in Africa including Tanzania, Rwanda, Kenya, Nigeria, DRC, Gabon, Malawi, Zambia, Madagascar, Seychelles, Chad, Niger and Congo Brazzaville. Mastercard’s strategy is based on collaboration and partnerships that drive innovation, and this is yet another example.