Visa pledged to invest $1 billion in Africa over the next five years to advance resilient, innovative, and inclusive economies across the continent

The pledge will further scale Visa’s operations in Africa, and deepen collaboration with strategic partners. Source: unsplash.com

During the US-Africa Business Forum, Visa announced it would invest $1 billion in Africa by 2027 to scale operations, deploy new innovative technologies and deepen collaboration with partners.

Visa’s expanded investment pledge demonstrates the payment provider’s long-term commitment to Africa’s growth potential. The increased financing will help enable greater access to digital payments on the continent as a way to expand formal financial services for individuals and merchants.

By Visa estimations, about 500 million people in Africa still have no access to formal financial services. Furthermore, less than 50% of the adult population has ever made or received digital payments in Africa, and more than 40 million merchants do not accept digital payments.

Besides, the investments will strengthen the African payment ecosystem with new innovations and technologies. Through its financing initiative, Visa will support the digitisation of economies and invest in upskilling, talent development and capacity building.

In addition, the global payment network aims to deepen collaboration with strategic partners in Africa, including governments, financial institutions, mobile network operators, fintechs and merchants.

Visa’s recent strategic investments to advance its Africa expansion include:

• Establishing local operations?in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and Sudan;
• Unveiling the first dedicated Visa Sub-Saharan Africa Innovation Studio, in Nairobi, Kenya;
• Introducing and expanding new payment technologies, such as Tap to Phone SoftPOS solution, as well as lowering remittance costs through innovative solutions like Visa Direct;
• Collaborating with innovative fintech companies and entrepreneurs within the Visa Everywhere Initiative program;
• Launching new programs to support women’s empowerment in Africa such as She’s Next;
• Working with partners to advance financial literacy in several languages, including the first Arabic version of Practical Money Skills in Egypt.

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