Cellulant - Afrikan Heroes

Kenyan Central Bank Approves Payment Service License for Cellulant

February 17, 2022

The Central Bank of Kenya has granted Cellulant a Payment Service Provider authorisation in Kenya, enabling the company to expand its payments offering for businesses, banks, and consumers.

Founded in 2003, Cellulant is among the pioneer Financial Technology (fintech) Companies in Kenya and Africa at large and has a history of driving innovation through creative technical solutions delivered with a streamlined user experience. Over the last decade, the company has evolved in its payments solutions, from mobile banking services to offering a full-stack one-stop-shop payments platform for global, regional and local businesses.

Faith Nkatha, Cellulant’s Country Manager in Kenya

The authorisation permits Cellulant to continue enabling businesses to collect payments online and offline while allowing anyone to pay from their mobile money, local and international cards or directly from their bank.

“As the payments industry has evolved globally, we are fortunate that the Central Bank of Kenya has provided a regulatory framework and environment that has allowed companies such as Cellulant to operate while adhering to the highest standards in providing payment solutions to businesses and their users. This authorisation will enable us to continue serving our customers better with guaranteed secure and regulated conditions for us to facilitate payments,” said Faith Nkatha, Cellulant’s Country Manager in Kenya.

Cellulant, a leading payments company in Africa, has partnerships with 45 of the largest mobile money operators and 210 banks across Africa and has a converged payments ecosystem that brings together a network of banks, businesses, mobile network operators and consumers. The company provides its services in 35 countries across Africa, including Ghana, Botswana, Nigeria, Kenya, Cameroon, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Egypt, Ethiopia and South Africa, offering the largest and most connected payments network on the continent.

Commenting on the state of the payments ecosystem in Africa, David Waithaka, Group Chief Revenue Officer at Cellulant, said, “A connected payment network is integral to the prosperity of businesses in Kenya and Africa at large. Because of the industry’s fragmentation, most businesses are forced to integrate multiple payment providers simply to operate on a day-to-day basis. For Cellulant, simplifying the payment experience and providing merchant tools to manage all their payments frees businesses to focus on their growth and consequently create opportunities that accelerate growth for all.”

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

Ghana Approves License to Cellulant to Launch Tingg

August 6, 2021

The Bank of Ghana has issued a Payment Services Provider (PSP) license to Cellulant paving the way for the company to introduce its digital payments solution for businesses, Tingg, in Ghana. Tingg is a solution that offers simplified payment tools and processes for merchants to manage their payments. Using the mobile and web-based platform, businesses can collect and make payments across multiple channels.

It could be recalled that Cellulant launched the service in Tanzania two weeks ago, after getting a similar license from the central bank in the East African nation, and in Zambia early July. With this approval from the regulator, Cellulant, through Tingg, can acquire and aggregate merchant services, process financial services, deploy POS systems, as well as aggregate payments for banks, institutions, and the public, the company said on Thursday.

Other services allowed include mobile banking and payments, bulk payments, the provision of third-party payment gateways, and a marketplace for regulated financial service providers. These are in addition to the printing and presentation of EMV cards, inward international remittance services, as well as limited use of closed-loop virtual cards.

There’s been significant growth in the use of digital payment systems, such as mobile money, by Ghanaians over the past few years. Nearly 40% of the country’s population aged 15 years and older had a mobile money account as of January 2021.

Cellulant is looking to tap into this growing trend, enabled by the Bank of Ghana’s PSP license, which is a requirement under the Payment Services Act 2019. The law mandates that all Fintech or digital payments companies be licensed by the apex bank before they can operate in the country.

“We believe that Ghana is fast becoming a hub for fintech in Africa,” said Cellulant Ghana Country Manager, Eric Kortey. “Being licensed by the Bank of Ghana means a lot to the growth of our industry and opens doors to increased security and confidence in digital payments systems.”

Hundreds of businesses have already begun using Tingg to collect money digitally from their customers across Ghana, according to Cellulant. In pushing for even greater adoption of its solution, Cellulant will be competing in a market dominated by MTN’s MoMo service and also with the likes of Airtel Tigo and Vodafone providing digital payment solutions.