Cellulant, Mastercard partner for African consumers - ITREALMS

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The duo of Cellulant and Mastercard have partnered to allow millions of Cellulant customers across Africa to shop and pay online with global merchants wherever Mastercard is accepted, reports ITREALMS.

The Mastercard virtual payment solution, linked to Cellulant’s payment gateway - Tingg, can unlock a host of opportunities for consumers, whether they have a bank account or not. Consumers will be able to shop from well-known global digital commerce brands, paying quickly and securely for leisure shopping, travel, accommodation, entertainment, streaming services and more, while in their home countries or travelling abroad.

Beware! Naira Mastercard goes out of circulation - ITREALMS

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The First Bank Nigeria Plc has alerted Nigerian customers that their Naira Mastercard would no longer be used to access dollarised account, effective September 30, reports ITREALMS.

Information available to ITREALMS indicated that due to current market realities on foreign exchange, was why the bank is discontinuing the services of its other cards.

Mastercard names Prasad, new Sub-Saharan Africa Division President

ITREALMS:

Spurred on by the company’s steady growth in Sub-Saharan Africa and in line with its focus on investing in the continent, Mastercard has appointed Raghav Prasad as Division President for Sub-Saharan Africa. Prasad will strengthen the company’s ongoing commitment to delivering value to customers and consumers in Africa by leveraging technology to build stronger and more inclusive payment ecosystems, reports ITRealms.

Prasad brings his extensive 30-year global financial services and payments industry experience to further Mastercard’s goal of financially including 100 million people by 2020 – an objective that can only be achieved by working with partners across the public and private sectors and by introducing market-relevant digital payment solutions such as Masterpass QR, Mastercard Payment Gateway Services along with its core Debit, Credit, Prepaid and Commercial solutions.

With a proven track record as a leader, Prasad has a deep understanding of the payments sector, and brings unique insights into the region honed while running his own consulting practice focusing on the Middle East and Africa as well as working for global players like Citibank and RBS.

“The influence and true potential of technology is seen on the continent like almost nowhere else in the world. Africa has an amazing advantage of not having invested in legacy infrastructure and can embrace the latest technologies, especially mobile, to transform the payments landscape. Technology innovation is influencing the way consumers engage with the world around them, shaping economies, creating smarter, more connected and financially inclusive cities,” said Prasad.

Mobile continues to act as a critical conduit of growth in Sub-Saharan Africa, currently accounting for nearly a tenth of the global mobile subscriber base and is predicted to grow faster than any other region globally over the next five years. Additionally, the World Bank estimates that over 64 million adults in the region already have a mobile money account – making it the most easily accessible technology for those currently excluded from the formal financial services sector.

It also serves as an increasingly important tool for the continent’s growing youth population. Africa will become the youngest and most populous continent in the next few decades, according to the Africa Development Bank Outlook 2018 Report. Its labour force will expand to nearly two billion in 2063, a trend that is supported by the fact that over 12 million young people join the workforce every year.

Prasad predicts that the demographic dividend of a large young and tech-savvy population will lead to many of these youth starting up businesses of their own, and becoming job creators. “Our work in supporting the MSME sector is critical to our role in Africa, and solutions such as Masterpass QR are turning the tide on cash dependency as well as helping millions of merchants to go digital for the first time. This is more attractive for businesses and consumers alike – and we see youth being a key driver of the adoption of new technologies now, and in the future"

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Mastercard acquires Oltio to accelerate digital payments in MEA

ITREALMS: 

Mastercard has completed the acquisition of mobile payments technology company, Oltio from Standard Bank Group, reports ITRealms.

The acquisition, ITRealms gathered, builds on Mastercard’s longstanding relationship with Oltio, a startup that pioneered and patented several mobile payments and banking solutions, including an authentication technology.

ITRealms reports that today, that technology enables consumers to authenticate Masterpass digital wallet purchases in South Africa using their bank PIN and mobile phone.

Over the coming months, Mastercard will leverage Oltio’s technology, people and infrastructure to enhance and scale its existing suite of digital solutions for merchants and issuers in cash-orientated, emerging markets  - in turn, enabling them to deliver more seamless payment experiences to the consumer.

“Too many consumers and merchants in the MEA region are stuck in a cash economy that doesn’t work for them,” says Mark Elliott, division president for Mastercard, Southern Africa. “By combining our joint expertise, technologies and reach, we can bridge the divide between the region’s cash economies and the digital future, bringing the benefits of digital payments to more people and businesses.”

Issuers will benefit from added functionality including person-to-person payments, bill payments, and airtime top-ups, which they can integrate into their existing mobile banking applications.

For merchants, Mastercard will enhance and scale its omni-channel acceptance solutions, enabling even the smallest businesses to accept digital payments using efficient and affordable technology, such as Quick Response (QR) codes.

“We have had a great relationship with Mastercard over the years, and believe that Oltio will thrive as part of an issuer-independent payments company with Mastercard’s vast global resources and innovative technology,” says Andrew Wilmot, executive, Group Card and Emerging Payments for Standard Bank.

Chuks Egbune/GEE

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Mastercard $1m grant ignites African business growth

ITRealms:

The Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth has confirmed commitment to a grant of up to USD$1 million over three years to support the growth of small business owners in Africa and Rwanda particularly, reports ITRealms.

Ensuring that the first phase of the roll out of the grant is successful, Mastercard has partnered with the African Entrepreneur Collective (AEC), locally known as Inkomoko. The team develops and grooms entrepreneurs in industries such as technology, agriculture and energy – three of East Africa’s biggest and fastest growing sectors, and priorities in Rwanda.

ITRealms recalls that this was proclaimed during the 2016 World Economic Forum on Africa (WEF Africa) in Kigali, Rwanda, which saw Mastercard committed to supporting Rwanda’s vision of financially empowering its citizens, with the grant established to support achieving this goal. The commitment is in line with driving poverty out of Rwanda through job creation, ensuring gender equality through equal access to opportunities, and delivering decent work prospects which will enable economic growth.

Entrepreneurs and small business owners are key drivers of the local economy – currently making up 97.8 percent of the private sector in the country. Inkomoko’s one-year programme removes the barriers local entrepreneurs face in the areas of skills development, networks, and financing, through providing mentoring, technical support, capacity building, and direct access to affordable capital.

What makes the partnership between Mastercard and Inkomoko unique is the support of both Rwandan nationals as well as some of the 160,000 refugees currently living in Rwanda. In collaboration with the United Nations Agency on Refugees (UNHCR), the Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs (MIDIMAR) and Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, Inkomoko will roll out a programme aimed at fostering the social and economic independence of refugees in Rwanda.

With a large population of refugees, the role of private and public partnerships remains crucial to the inclusive growth and development of all those displaced. Mastercard, together with the African Entrepreneur Collective, has committed to assisting entrepreneurs in Rwanda regardless of their circumstances, a vision shared and driven by the Rwandan government.

“Connecting entrepreneurs, especially women and refugees, to the networks that power the modern world – like financial services – unlocks their economic potential and accelerates a cycle of equitable and sustainable economic growth,” says Shamina Singh, President of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth.

The Inkomoko entrepreneurship programme aims to restore the dignity of refugees living in Rwanda by empowering these small business owners with vital support to grow their businesses. The programme will work with 4,000 refugees in Rwanda over the next three years.

“The intention is to connect refugees with the tools and skills necessary to enable them to become self-sufficient and independent entrepreneurs to improve their own livelihoods, create jobs for others in their communities, and contribute to Rwanda’s larger economic development. Rwanda’s refugee camps and host communities are places of vibrant social and economic activity with bustling markets, shops, restaurants, and industries,” says Julienne Oyler, Executive Director of African Entrepreneur Collective. “Supporting and developing entrepreneurs in these areas will have tremendous impact on the communities themselves and the country at large.”

Rwanda has become a bustling centre of commerce in Africa, and by implementing programmes that broadly target high potential local entrepreneurs, broad-based economic growth can be advanced by equipping the country’s next generation of business owners with the right tools to hone their financial literacy – the foundation of financial inclusion and growth.

In this way, the support provided as part of the grant not only falls in with the country’s Vision 2020 strategy to create a knowledge-based, cashless economy with 90 percent financial inclusion, it also contributes to Rwanda meeting its Sustainable Development Goals, most notably in terms of eradicating poverty and driving gender equality through the empowerment and entrepreneurship.

Facilitating inclusive growth is an important way to build social and economic development, and the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth remains committed to working with partners in both the public and private spheres to drive that development. “Microentrepreneurs drive the local economy, and through our partnership with African Entrepreneur Collective, we look forward to empowering them with the tools and training to grow their businesses and advance the lives of their families and communities,” concludes Singh.

Chuks Egbune/GEE

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Mastercard, Mobile Money partner on CashlessAfrica Confab 2017

ITRealms:

The CashlessAfrica Conference and Expo is a platform for technology companies, FinTech’s and other financial institutions to come together and share best practices in order to build a strong economy in Nigeria, reports ITRealms.

Acclaimed digital payment solutions provider, Mastercard is partnering Mobile Money as the headline sponsor of the 6th Edition of the CashlessAfrica Conference and Expo, organised by Mobile Money Africa and scheduled for March 22 to 23, this year, at the Oriental Hotel, Lekki in Lagos.

ITRealms reports that the CashlessAfrica Conference and Expo serves as a platform for technology companies, FinTech’s and other financial institutions to come together and share best practices in order to build a strong economy in Nigeria. The event looks at the importance of rethinking current models and gaining valuable market insight to introduce relevant digital payment solutions to the benefit of all people.

The Vice President and Area Business Head of West Africa, Mastercard, Omokehinde Adebanjo, said that with over 85 per cent of retail transactions still made in cash and cheques, the potential for digital payments to make a tangible difference is immense.

This year, she said, Mastercard would participate as a keynote speaker to discuss matters impacting Nigeria and the broader continent and how partnerships will be critical to shifting economies beyond cash.

“Partnerships across multiple sectors and stakeholders is a fundamental component to ensuring cash is driven out of the system and that smart innovative, and financially inclusive, solutions are introduced,” said Adebanjo.

Principal Associate of Mobile Money Africa, Emmanuel Okoegwale said, “Our partnership with Mastercard is a demonstration of the technology company’s commitment to seeking better ways of promoting a cashless culture across here in Nigeria and globally.”

Okoegwale further stated that conference discussions will focus on carefully selected topics such as “The digital bank and its evolution in a competitive market; The future of banking, money and payments in Africa; Disruptive technologies and their impact on financial services in Africa; Balancing regulation against innovation; Remittances in the digital age; Fintechs and Banks: Collaboration or Competition? And protecting the customer in a digitized economy.”

Chuks Egbune/GEE

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MasterCard’s e-ID wins the Best Financial Inclusion Product Award

ITRealms

The MasterCard’s Nigerian National Electronic Identity (e-ID) card has been declared winner at this year’s Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN)  Card, ATM and Mobile Expo Awards held in Lagos, reports ITRealms.

Powered by Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System and CBN, the award recognizes the payment product that has successfully expanded financial inclusion and developed Nigeria’s cashless policy.

The National e-ID card with MasterCard’s prepaid payments functionality, ITRealms learnt, is currently being issued by the Nigerian Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to 13 million Nigerians as part of a pilot programme launched in 2014. 

The Director General and CEO,NIMC, Barr. Chris E. Onyemenam stated after the award, “We are extremely honoured to receive this prestigious award, which recognises the strides we are making in providing a convenient, safe, and cost effective electronic payments product to Nigerians- 64 per cent of whom do not have a bank account,”

 
He went further to say “Combining an identity card MasterCard’s prepaid payment capability creates a game changer as it breaks down the most significant barrier to financial inclusion – proof of identity - while simultaneously enabling Nigerians to access state-of-the-art financial services,” ITRealms gathered.

It is envisaged that on completion of the pilot programme, NIMC plans to introduce more than 100 million cards to Nigeria’s 170 million citizens, making this the largest rollout of an electronic payment solution in the country and the broadest financial inclusion program in Africa. The e-ID as a payment tool, ITRealms reports, enables cardholders to deposit funds, save, withdraw cash at ATMs, and pay for goods and services at any of the millions of MasterCard acceptance locations globally or via online shopping portals.

Cyriacus Nnaji/ GEE

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Pix:
(From left to right) Oladipo Ogunsulire, MasterCard, Kenny Teller, MasterCard, Mrs Onadeko, NIMC, Mrs Ejiofor, NIMC and Taiwo Adebayo MasterCard at the CBN Card Expo 2015 Awards ceremony, where the Nigerian National e-ID Card (NeID) won the award for Best Financial Inclusion Product.