Africa needs African solutions for payments

By Robin Amlot

According to the GSMA 2019 Mobile Money Report, there are more than one billion mobile money accounts in Africa, accounting for 57% of mobile money transaction values. Over the next five years, the GSMA expects that 84% of Africans will have access to a SIM connection and that mobile payments will play a critical role in empowering individuals, businesses and the continent’s economy as a whole.

Murray Gardiner, Managing Director of Bluecode Africa believes this is the principle that’s dominating the approach taken by the World Bank in an effort to provide Africa with support in the wake of Covid-19. The organisation is focusing on putting women at the centre of digital payment programmes and leveraging digital technologies to improve trade, government and resource management. The World Bank is also focusing on fostering secure, affordable and accessible national payment systems.

Gardiner adds that payment solutions in Africa are critical to minimising fraud while improving the free flow of funds to boost business and economic activity. Payment technology that allows for individuals from all walks of life to manage their money securely is the equivalent of putting a bank into every person’s pocket.

Digital payments equalise engagements while improving transparency and control over finances and business. They also empower the small to medium enterprises (SMEs), giving them greater scope for inclusion and access to customers and markets. The value of digital payments in not just opening up new markets and opportunities, but in providing tighter cash flow control at a better price point than cash.

It is against that background that we should view the news that Kenya’s Prime Bank has partnered with London-based FinTech SimbaPay to launch an instant international money transfer service via the bank’s digital platform PrimeMobi.

Through SimbaPay, Prime Bank customers are able to instantly and securely send money directly to bank accounts or mobile wallets across 15 countries in Africa, Europe, and Asia including India, United Kingdom, China (WeChat Pay), Germany, Uganda and others.