It appears the next battleground for fintech companies in Africa is the East African country of Tanzania. With a population of more than 58 million, the country looks ready to pose a major threat to existing competitors across Africa. Joining African payments company Cellulant barely a month after it announced it had procured a service license is leading e-payment fintech firm, Pesapal which has now been accredited by the Bank of Tanzania. The firm had also received a payment service provider license from the Central Bank of Kenya, meaning that the entire East African payments corridor will be busy for it in the coming months.
Apart from Kenya and Tanzania, Pesapal is also available in Uganda, Rwanda, Malawi, and Zimbabwe. The firm is one of the leading modes of payments, aside from Mpesa in Kenya.
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“We are excited about the regulatory approvals. This demonstrates our commitment and ambition to impact the online payments ecosystem. I believe this will enable the e-commerce businesses to grow and expand further in East Africa,” said Pesapal chief executive officer Mark Mwongela.
Pesapal will be offering digital e-commerce services in the regions as well as accelerating innovation in digital payments.
“We are investing in Tanzania to reshape the future of commerce. For merchants, digital payments mean reducing costs associated with handling and losing cash, and broadening their customer base as more and more people move away from cash,” Pesapal Tanzania Country manager stated.
To be clear, Pesapal is a payment system that allows customers to settle payments using their credit cards, banks, and mobile networks from a single portal. Almost identical to Paypal, but with a regional platform.
Before now, Tanzania is home to a host of fintechs, most of which are embedded financial platforms.
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Tanzania was the first African country to establish interoperability across mobile money service providers in 2014. The initiative, which was led by the industry and was approved by the Bank of Tanzania, allowed immediate transfers between clients of different providers, making it easier for users to make digital payments.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer