Adyen and African fintech Cellulant are working together to expand Adyen’s global payments offering to hundreds of merchants, banks and mobile network operators in Africa.
The partnership will enable merchants targeting African consumers to accept local payment methods such as M-Pesa, Airtel Money, Equitel, Tigo Pesa and MTN Mobile Money via Adyen, the Amsterdam-based payments provider said in a Tuesday press release.
Through a single integration with Cellulant, which processes about 12% of Africa’s digital payments through its platform, Adyen will reach 40 mobile network operators, 600 local and international merchants and 120 banks in African countries, starting with Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana and Uganda, the release said.
The move will expand Adyen’s reach to an audience of about 220 million consumers who make purchases via credit and debit cards, mobile money or mobile banking payment services, according to the release.
“In the next three to five years, 5 to 10 of the world’s fastest growing economies will be in Africa and with a population of 1.2 billion, this is the right time for global businesses to be looking at Africa,” said David Waithaka, chief business offering for global payments for Nairobi, Kenya-based Cellulant, in the release.
“Eliminating boundaries across channels and geographies will help our customers’ businesses to expand by making these markets more accessible,” said Roeland Prins, Adyen’s chief commercial officer, in the release.
Adyen already provides payment acceptance connections for merchants in North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific, the release noted.
