Cellulant’s Payment Processing to Power Online and Offline Payments for Businesses in Africa

Cellulant Acting CEO Akshay Grover

Cellulant (https://www.Cellulant.io), a leading payments technology company, aims to change how businesses in Africa make and receive payments by introducing online and offline payment solutions.

The payments market in Africa is experiencing rapid growth, mainly due to advancements in peer-to-peer (P2P) and consumer-to-business (C2B) payment solutions. However, the fragmentation of payment processing continues to pose a significant challenge for businesses seeking to establish a presence in Africa.

Cellulant Acting CEO Akshay Grover

Solving intractable problems is not new to Cellulant; founded at the height of Africa’s mobile technology boom in 2003, Cellulant is building Africa’s most comprehensive payments infrastructure. The company offers a single API payment platform that enables businesses to collect payments online and offline while allowing anyone to pay from their mobile money, local and international cards, or bank. Providing alternative payment methods for African consumers is particularly important on a continent that holds 70% of the world’s $1 trillion mobile money market. Card penetration sits at a 3% penetration rate – meaning global companies looking to expand into Africa need a payments partner that can offer alternative payment methods for the local market.

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At the recently held 25th Annual Harvard Africa Business Conference in Boston, Cellulant’s Group CEO Akshay Grover stated, “Solving the payments challenges in Africa is not just about payments but accelerating global economic growth. Africa’s dynamic economies and lack of an established payment infrastructure have resulted in a unique occurrence on the continent. On the one hand, this has prompted the growth of payment platforms and solutions to meet the various needs of businesses and consumers, turning Africa into a centre of innovation in the payments sector. On the other hand, with multiple providers, a wide range of payment methods exists due to the absence of a consistent infrastructure enabling businesses to collect payments seamlessly or easily operate across borders. Therefore, a payments infrastructure in Africa must holistically address the needs of businesses and their consumers by making it easy to collect payments online and offline -regardless of the size of the business.”

Cellulant has built, Tingg, a payments platform that provides multinational and international businesses with a one-stop-shop solution for their payment needs across the continent. The payments gateway connects to over 370 payment methods from mobile money operators and banks across the continent to global and regional card switches such as Visa, Mastercard, NIBSS and Verve.

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The payments platform has full-stack offline and online payment capabilities. It caters to businesses in various sectors, such as Airlines, Telecoms, E-commerce, Ride-Hailing, Retail and Remittances, enabling these businesses to deliver a frictionless payment experience to their customers. Today, Cellulant powers payments for renowned global companies such as Emirates, Bolt, KLM, Ethiopian Airlines, Glovo, Kenya Airways, and Jumia; and processes billions of dollars yearly.

Cellulant is ISO 27001 (ISMS), ISO 27701 (PIMS), ISO 22301 (BCMS), ISO 20000-1 (Service Management) and PCI-DSS compliant for all its payouts and collections products.

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

Cellulant’s Payments Operations Licensed by the Bank of Uganda

Ken Njoroge, Cellulant's Co-Chief Executive Officer

Cellulant, the Pan-African payment technology company has been granted a Payments Systems Operator license by the National Bank of Uganda in line with the National Payments System Act, 2020. The Act provides guidance in streamlining operators in the burgeoning fintech space in Uganda.

Founded in 2003, Cellulant Group has a history of delivering inventive technical and financial solutions implemented with a seamless user experience. The company today powers collections and payouts for thousands of businesses in various sectors across 35 countries in Africa.

Ken Njoroge, Cellulant's Co-Chief Executive Officer
Ken Njoroge, Cellulant’s Co-Chief Executive Officer

Cellulant launched operations in Uganda in 2009 and through its single API payments gateway – Tingg (https://Tingg.Africa/) – enables global, regional and local businesses to collect payments online and offline serving its customers with locally relevant payment methods, including mobile money, cards & banks.

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By obtaining this license, Cellulant will be able to develop its operations locally and regionally while providing reassurance to its business partners that Cellulant complies with local and international security regulations. Having partnered with 6 financial institutions and over 50 merchants within Uganda, Cellulant is availing proximity mobile banking and checkout solutions to its merchants across the country.

According to Frances Diribe, Cellulant’s Chief Risk & Compliance Officer, “We welcome this development and are delighted that the Bank of Uganda has now licensed Cellulant Uganda as a Payment Systems Operator (large funds transfer). Uganda currently has over 800,000 registered businesses and a fast-growing digital youthful population. We’re on course to double down our work in offering these businesses and their clients’ dependable payment options. By streamlining the business payment process, they can concentrate on growing themselves.” 

Cellulant boasts an 80 per cent market share in providing payment solutions for all airlines in Africa including Emirates, Kenya Airways, Jambojet, and Ethiopian Airlines, among others. They also provide solutions for the likes of Rubis, Oryx, Jumia, Kiku, MultiChoice, StarTimes, Zuku, National Water, and Umeme, among others. The company facilitates more than 300 million transactions per year with volumes in billions of dollars.

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The Pan-African Payments pioneer recently announced its partnership with the global technology company, Mastercard, to empower millions of consumers across Africa to join the global digital commerce market through their virtual payment solution. Cellulant also recently partnered with LC Waikiki in Zambia & Orange Money in Botswana.

With this accreditation in the Pearl of Africa, the company looks to progress its mission to create opportunities and accelerate economic growth for all of Africa.

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