Firms collaborate on Africa's fintech innovation
Mastercard and enza – a payment solutions company – have collaborated to connect fintech companies across Africa to the Mastercard network. This collaboration will enable fintech players to build propositions on the enza platform that serve both consumers and businesses with embedded Mastercard payment solutions capabilities.
According to a report by the European Investment Bank, the number of fintech companies in Africa has nearly tripled since 2020. Many of these innovators focus on embedding payment services into broader solutions that tackle financial access, offering alternatives to legacy systems that often have a high cost to serve.
Fintech companies in Africa will now be able to easily access the full suite of Mastercard services. The collaboration aimed to reduce complexity and speed up time to market for emerging players building digital financial solutions across the continent.
Executive Vice President, Market Development, EEMEA, Mastercard, Mete Guney, said: “At Mastercard, we are focused on powering the fintech ecosystem by enabling access to our trusted global network. Through our work with enza, fintech innovators in Africa will be able to deploy embedded payment capabilities more efficiently – helping accelerate financial inclusion and the region’s digital transformation.”
As part of the arrangement, enza will host consumer and merchant accounts, manage integration with Mastercard’s network and ensure high levels of security and system availability. Fintech companies can configure pre-paid or post-paid accounts, and issue physical or virtual Mastercard cards.
For businesses, enza will enable acceptance of Mastercard payments across in-store, online and in-app channels. Executive Director, enza, Andrew Key, said: “Enza is on a mission to make digital payments more accessible and affordable across Africa, helping to build a more financially inclusive continent that is ready and able to compete globally.
“Our collaboration with Mastercard leverages our existing relationship to more effectively serve the fintech community. Together, we will provide innovators with a platform capability that means they do not need to build this aspect of their proposition and can get to market with greater speed and security.”
