• South African-based fintech Onafriq will now use Mastercard technology to improve its digital payment platforms.
• This is after a deal was struck between the two companies.
• Mastercard is looking to onboard more Africans into a digital-first economy and is on the lookout for partners to make this a reality.

A new partnership has been announced between two of Africa’s most important payment facilitators, as Mastercard has teamed up with South Africa-based fintech Onafriq. The two firms have joined forces to bring innovative digital payments to more SMEs across the continent.

The collaboration means that Onafriq will now be able to leverage technology from Mastercard to improve its digital payment channels, which support an extensive network of 500 million mobile money wallets and 200 million bank accounts across 40 African nations.

“At Mastercard, we seek to leverage fintech partnerships in Africa to catalyze transformative change across industries that benefit individuals, communities, and businesses,” explained Amnah Ajmal, EVP for Mastercard’s market development in Africa and the Middle East.

“We look forward to collaborating with Onafriq to pave digital pathways and drive innovation across the continent’s payment ecosystem.”

Mastercard’s larger goal, it says, is to bring over one billion Africans into a digital-first economy by 2025.

Fintech, digital payments and mobile money are seeing wide-ranging adoption across the continent, as the ease of digital financial management benefits from an increasingly ubiquitous smartphone-connected internet and a young and mobile population.

Onafriq believes Africa’s mobile money sector is the fastest-growing in the world. In particular, Sub-Saharan Africa has over 800 million registered mobile money account, a statistic that is increasing by 19 percent year on year.

“We are excited about our collaboration with Mastercard, as we share a strong alignment of vision and mission, interoperability, and markets. In addition, we both understand that financial inclusion is not only a moral imperative but also a strategic priority for economic development in Africa,” said Dare Okoudjou, founder and CEO of Onafriq.

Okoudjou recently signed the partnership deal with Mastercard President for Africa Mark Elliot, pictured in the cover image above.

This represents Onafriq’s second major partnership signed this year. Last month, the company signed a deal to bring its payment facilitation technology to Ethiopia via Safaricom and M-PESA.