Pay@ – South African payment aggregator and provider of secure payment solutions – will be expanding into several African countries and providing consumers and businesses alike with a variety of payment methods.
With the African Continental Free Trade Agreement set to generate combined consumer and business spending of $6.7 trillion by 2030, the continent requires payment platforms to cater for this growth.
The company’s CEO, Andrew Hardie says that Pay@ has deployed operations into Namibia, Botswana and Lesotho over the past few years but will now be adding Zambia, Mozambique and Angola to this list, with additional African countries in the pipeline.
“We would like to build on the strength of our business in South Africa and grow out our offerings across the continent.”
He explains that the decision to expand was driven by several factors including demand from South African clients operating in these markets, a retailer network in these areas and the phenomenal digital growth spurred on by the pandemic.
Hardie shares that over and above providing Pay@’s established payment offerings in these markets, the company is actively looking to expand these via strategic partnerships in order to meet the needs of locals.
“What makes Africa an exciting challenge is that you can’t follow a blanket approach, there are some similarities among the various countries in the methods or channels that they use but every country also has differences.
“Ultimately, our aim is to improve our services both for the under-banked and the banked, and to help create a payment culture by making payments a lot more accessible and easier for people.
“If you have to get into a taxi to go to the closest town to make a payment, it can cost you a lot of money. But if you can make a payment via mobile money, EFT using your mobile phone, the internet, a spaza shop or your local retailer store, it’s more convenient and saves you money.
“We intend providing bill presentment and payment options across the spectrum in Africa and believe that the efficiencies we have been offering South Africans, such as real time validations, notifications and reconciliations, will be welcomed by those in other countries on the continent.”
He concludes by saying: “Pay@ is at the forefront of innovation, we’re continually improving as a business, and adapting as we expand across the continent too. We can enhance payment systems, both front-end and back-end, for businesses, and facilitate easy payments for their customers. Everyone is looking at Africa as the next frontier to conquer and we can provide those businesses with world-class payment systems.”
