World funds big Visa is doubling down on contactless funds throughout Africa as a part of a broader technique to increase its relevance in markets the place conventional card utilization remains to be restricted.
“We predict contactless cost goes to develop [in Africa] simply as we’ve seen it develop in every single place world wide,” Godfrey Sullivan, Visa’s SVP and Head of Merchandise, Options, and Digital Partnerships for Central and Japanese Europe, Center East, and Africa (CEMEA), advised TechCabal on the sidelines of GITEX Africa 2025. “It will turn into how individuals pay face-to-face.”
Visa’s guess alerts a crucial part in its Africa playbook, the place it’s investing in newer, sooner cost infrastructure to compete with homegrown programs. It sees an untapped alternative in Africa, the place money stays dominant regardless of the rise of cell cash and real-time cost platforms just like the Nigeria Inter-Financial institution Settlement Methods (NIBSS). The corporate believes contactless funds—by way of playing cards, cellphones, and biometrics—can provide a sooner and extra scalable answer.
“In Morocco, we launched contactless funds a few years in the past. Now 41% of transactions performed are contactless,” Sullivan stated. “It’s a much more safe manner for customers and companies to obtain funds.”
The funds big prioritises this mannequin throughout its key African markets—Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Egypt, and Morocco—the place adoption of digital funds has accelerated however stays fragmented throughout QR-based options, real-time cost programs, and native fintech platforms. These programs have struggled with reliability and fraud, based on Sullivan.
“In Nigeria, individuals are going to supermarkets and ready for transactions to clear for minutes,” he stated. “Visa transactions clear in 200 milliseconds.”
Sullivan additionally famous that many native real-time platforms lack efficient dispute decision mechanisms, a weak spot Visa sees as a strategic benefit. “Lots of them are reaching out to us, saying, “How can now we have higher safety?””
The strategic pivot
For Visa, the contactless shift is not only about enabling tap-to-pay at bodily retailers. The agency is working to embed its infrastructure extra deeply into Africa’s rising digital cost ecosystem. It’s rolling out Visa Pay, a brand new real-time B2B cost platform within the Democratic Republic of Congo. Sullivan stated the platform is at present present process regulatory approvals. Visa can be exploring the combination of stablecoins into its broader cost ecosystem.
Visa’s method in Africa hinges closely on partnerships with native fintechs and banks to navigate the fragmented regulatory and infrastructure panorama. The agency now works with over 1,000 issuers throughout the continent. “It’s good to have companions in every of those completely different international locations… the fintech neighborhood, notably, is central to our broader technique,” Sullivan stated.
In December 2024, the funds big invested in Moniepoint, the Nigerian fintech unicorn recognized for its dominant agent banking infrastructure in Nigeria. Moniepoint processed over 5.2 billion transactions in 2024 and serves over 1.6 million companies. Its deep roots within the casual economic system give Visa a channel to scale contactless choices in on a regular basis commerce.
Visa is making an attempt to strike a fragile stability: increase quick in Africa with out alienating fintechs more and more cautious of excessive charges and dependence on overseas networks. Sullivan’s message was clear: Visa doesn’t simply wish to be a card firm in Africa, it needs to be the rails, working with everybody from banks to fintechs to modernise how funds transfer.
Enterprise outlook
With the rising value of counting on worldwide card networks like Visa and Mastercard after a naira devaluation, Nigerian fintechs are more and more turning to native options akin to Verve and AfriGo. OPay and Moniepoint have collectively issued greater than 17 million Verve playing cards. In March 2025, PalmPay and Moniepoint partnered with AfriGo to roll out contactless cost playing cards and tap-to-pay options throughout Nigeria.
However Visa says progress within the area hasn’t slowed. “We nonetheless see Visa rising tremendously throughout the continent. The speed of progress is barely getting sooner,” Sullivan stated.
The corporate plans to take a position $1 billion in Africa by 2027, and says it’s on monitor. With 9 workplaces and over 500 staff, Sullivan stated, “Africa is a brilliant necessary area for us—and we’re simply getting began.”
