Mastercard’s collaboration with organisations, financial institutions, fintechs and governments across African countries has continued to connect more consumers and businesses to Africa’s digital financial system, helping to drive greater financial inclusion and economic development. In this interview, the Country Manager, West Africa at Mastercard, Dr. Folasade Femi-Lawal, speaks about the rapid evolution of digital commerce across the African continent, driven by sustained digital transactions, and Mastercard’s involvement in boosting Africa’s acceptance network by 45 per cent in 2025. Emma Okonji presents the excerpts:
In 2025, Mastercard grew its African acceptance network by 45 per cent. What does this scale of growth signal for Africa’s digital economy and everyday economic participation?
The 45 per cent expansion reflects the rapid evolution of digital commerce across the continent. As more consumers and businesses embrace digital transactions, payment infrastructure is becoming a foundational layer of economic participation rather than simply an alternative to cash.
This growth has been driven by a combination of innovation and strong partnerships with financial institutions, fintechs and governments. In Nigeria, Mastercard continues to introduce low-cost, software-driven acceptance solutions that enable merchants to accept digital payments without the need for traditional hardware. With Africa’s digital payments economy projected to reach $1.5 trillion by 2030, expanding acceptance ultimately means expanding opportunity. When more merchants can accept digital payments, more consumers can transact digitally, and the broader economy becomes more efficient, transparent and connected.
SMEs are widely regarded as Africa’s economic backbone. How is Mastercard supporting small businesses to move from digital access to sustained participation and growth?
SMEs remain at the center of Africa’s economic growth, and Mastercard is focused on enabling these businesses to fully participate in the digital economy. Through collaborations with financial institutions and technology providers, Mastercard continues to provide solutions that simplify payments, improve operational efficiency and enable businesses to scale digitally.
In Nigeria, QR-on-Card solutions launched with UBA and Wema Bank allow merchants and gig workers to accept contactless payments directly through their smartphones without the need for additional hardware. As a result, more than 1.8 million SMEs and gig workers have adopted this technology to accept secure, contactless payments.
Programmes such as SME-in-a-Box, further support small businesses by providing digital onboarding tools, including virtual cards and business management capabilities. Mastercard has worked with fintech platforms to help digitize supply chains and give merchants better tools to manage inventory, track payments and access broader distribution networks. Beyond payments technology, collaboration with the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) provides training and financial literacy programs that help small businesses build long-term resilience.
Nigeria recorded significant growth in electronic payments in 2025. How is Mastercard ensuring that this momentum translates into inclusion for informal merchants and micro businesses?
Nigeria’s payments ecosystem has experienced strong momentum, with ₦285 trillion recorded in electronic payment transactions in the first quarter of 2025 alone, highlighting how deeply digital payments are becoming embedded in everyday commerce.
For many informal merchants and micro businesses, the biggest barrier has historically been visibility. Businesses often operate successfully but lack the formal transaction records needed to access financial services. Solutions such as QR-on-Card and mobile-based acceptance technologies address this by creating digital transaction trails that enable merchants to build credible financial profiles over time, opening doors to credit, capital, and broader market participation.
Financial inclusion remains a challenge in underserved and rural communities. How is Mastercard practically extending digital payments to populations that traditional banking has struggled to reach?
Reaching rural and underserved communities requires approaches that go well beyond traditional banking infrastructure. Scaling low-cost acceptance infrastructure like Tap on Phone, QR solutions and Payment Link into the last mile is essential, particularly in smaller cities and rural markets where the growth opportunity is largest.
The second is upgrading backend systems to ensure high-speed interoperability and reliability. Frequent downtime erodes trust and pushes users back toward cash.
The third is cross-border integration. Strengthening cross-border payment rails – and ensuring African businesses can access them affordably – is foundational to deeper economic integration.
Another important priority is digital identity and verification. As more Ghanians participate in digital commerce, secure and widely accepted digital identity frameworks will become critical for onboarding individuals and small businesses into the formal financial system. Reliable identity infrastructure helps financial institutions verify users more efficiently, reduce fraud risks and extend services such as payments, credits and insurance to previous underserved communities.
Mastercard is working to expand access to digital services and ensure that the benefits of the digital economy are more equitably shared.
Artificial intelligence is increasingly shaping payments, fraud prevention and customer engagement. How do you see AI supporting Africa’s next phase of digital growth while maintaining trust and fairness?
Artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly important in strengthening payment security, improving customer experiences and enabling financial institutions to manage risk more effectively.
For more than two decades, Mastercard has used artificial intelligence and advanced data analytics to protect payments, helping secure more than 125 billion transactions across its global network each year. Mastercard’s Decision Intelligence technology analyzes vast amounts of transaction data in real time, identifying legitimate payments, preventing fraud, and allowing financial institutions and merchants to process transactions faster while maintaining strong security standards.
As AI adoption deepens across Africa’s digital economy, responsible innovation, strong governance and transparency will remain essential to maintaining trust in the payments ecosystem.
Following the progress recorded in 2025, what strategic priorities will guide Mastercard’s work across Africa in 2026?
Looking ahead, Mastercard’s priorities across Africa will focus on expanding acceptance, strengthening digital infrastructure and supporting greater financial inclusion.
An area of focus will be improving cross-border payment capabilities for businesses operating across markets. Through Mastercard Move, financial institutions and fintech partners can connect to payment networks across more than 200 countries and territories, and 1.75 billion endpoints globally – enabling faster, more transparent international transactions.
By combining innovation, partnerships and responsible technology deployment, Mastercard aims to help build a digital economy that is inclusive, resilient and accessible to more individuals and businesses across the continent.
Leave a comment