The Sectors that Champion Africa’s Single Market Vision
Fintech companies in Africa are flourishing by producing digital systems and infrastructure to make financial services more efficient. And with the launch of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) at the start of this year, the companies are well positioned to replicate this success by solving cross-border payment within the continent could “exponentially increase intra-Africa trade,” according to the UN’s Development Programme and the AfCFTA secretariat. In a case study cited in one of their recent reports, Godwin Benson, the CEO of Tuteria, a Nigerian peer-to-peer learning platform, said: “It should be easy for customers in Egypt or Rwanda to pay a business in Nigeria. Recently, a customer from Cameroon wanted to pay us but could not carry out the transaction. Without seamless intra-African payments, businesses like Tuteria, especially those run by young entrepreneurs, may not be able to trade across the continent.”
Meanwhile, SA payments and software startup Yoco has secured US$83m in Series C funding to accelerate the development of its platform and expand internationally. Yoco builds tools and services to help small businesses accept card payments in-store and online, access loans, and manage their day to day activities. In less than 6 years, the startup has become the preferred payments partner for over 150,000 SA small businesses, processing more than US$1bn in card payments per year. The startup’s last funding round was a US$16m Series B in 2018. The investment will enable the startup to accelerate the development of its financial ecosystem for small businesses, and expand its market presence beyond SA to the wider African market, as well as the Middle East. It aims at reaching one million merchants within the next 4 years. It is currently piloting in Mauritius.
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