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Flocash Partners Visa to Promote Digital Capabilities for African SMEs

July 7, 2022

The world leader in digital payments, Visa has announced that it entered a partnership with Flocash (www.Flocash.com), FT Africa’s fastest growing fintech 2022, to promote digital capabilities for African SMEs through digital payments, supplier solutions and access to financial services.

The first step in this partnership is the launch of Flostore, powered by a Visa digital wallet and the Flocash pan -African payment platform, which can help small businesses accept digital payments, manage supplies and access financial services across Africa.

Corine Mbiaketcha, Vice President and General Manager for East Africa at Visa

In addition to Flostore, Flocash and Visa will work together to embed financing in payments, and bring the element of analytics, bookkeeping and reconciliation for small businesses through Visa’s dynamic underwriting capabilities that includes buy now pay later structures.

“Visa is committed to expanding the digitization of payments across Africa. With partners like Flocash, our goal is to enable African businesses to access our payments ecosystem and technologies to enable them to innovatively and efficiently serve their customers. This partnership with Flocash, as well as the launch of Flostore, is an important step towards achieving this goal,” said Corine Mbiaketcha, Vice President and General Manager for East Africa at Visa. “Flocash has grown significantly as a travel payments processor over the last few years, and we are thrilled to partner with them to build innovative payments solutions that reduce friction in commerce for merchants in East Africa,” Mbiaketcha added.

Flostore Tap2phone capabilities enable small businesses to turn their existing mobile devices into payment acceptance terminals. Tap2phone is essential and a cost-effective mechanism for developing digital payment infrastructure in developing markets.

On the other hand, the CyberSource Payment Gateway technology incorporates all the safety protocols in place to give customers peace of mind as they transact online. It is designed to provide increased fraud protection, minimize cardholder friction, and increase the completion of sales, leading to a better experience for all parties involved. This helps both merchants and issuers detect and avoid fraud more effectively.

Through digitization, SMEs can use their digital footprint to tap into both traditional and alternative sources of funding to expand commerce while banks lower operating costs as they increase their revenue base. Digitization of the lending process enables banks to streamline their inefficient processes for SME lending and deliver value to their customers. 82% of small and micro businesses respondents to Visa’s annual outlook survey in 2022 indicated preference for digital payment options.

“Visa is a great partner to scale Flocash’s pan-African payment platform and develop this critical area of African commerce that can offer enormous continent-wide economic development opportunities,” said Sirak Mussie, Managing Director of Flocash.

SMEs account for 90% of all businesses in Africa but have an annual financing gap of over US $136 billion according to IFC. A digitized SME sector will unlock the huge market potential of the African continent underpinned by rapid population growth

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

Carbon Partners With Visa to Enable Payments Across Africa

July 3, 2021

Two major players in the digital payment sector have partnered to improve the trans-border payments process across Africa. This received a boost with the collaboration between Carbon and Visa, the world leader in digital payments that will be spread over the five-year partnership period. Carbon, a pan-African fintech company providing access to basic financial services for Africans, has today announced a strategic five-year partnership with Visa, the world leader in digital payments, to offer both digital and physical issuance of Visa cards to its customers.

Carbon is launching Visa debit cards in the third quarter of 2021, roughly a year after shifting from being a leading digital lending company to becoming a digital bank offering a range of financial services including, savings and payments. By leveraging Visa’s payment functionalities, Carbon will deploy an instant issuance process in three key markets including Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya.

The collaboration between both companies includes financial support from Visa and will be spread over the five-year partnership period. The funds will be used to provide implementation and marketing support to help drive further growth and adoption of Visa’s payment solutions across Carbon’s products.

“Carbon is focused on delivering an unparalleled banking experience that is both safe and reliable across all touchpoints,” said Chijioke Dozie, CEO/Co-founder of Carbon. “We want more customers to enjoy some of our popular products like Carbon Zero through their Carbon card, and key to achieving this is our partnership with a leading payments and fintech-friendly company like Visa.”

With the arrival of debit cards, Carbon is building on its fast-growing user base of over 650,000 customers and a strong 2020 fiscal year which saw the company process ₦96.54 billion (~$241.35 million) in payments and ₦25.21 billion (~$63 million) in loan disbursements, eclipsing the previous year’s numbers despite the pandemic.

“The rapid pace of technology innovation has driven a powerful shift in business and consumer expectations in finance,” said Kemi Okusanya, Vice President, Visa West Africa. “Whether it is changing the way people invest, manage money, receive loans, or send real-time payments to friends and family, Visa is a natural partner for fintechs including Carbon, providing them with new ways to reach their customers through Visa’s vast network and global scale.”

Adding Visa cards to its payments stack will also enable easier access to Carbon Zero, the company’s Buy Now Pay Later product, which allows consumers zero percent financing on items they need the most but cannot afford immediately.

The partnership with Visa will undoubtedly go a long way in consolidating Carbon’s first-rate digital bank status and facilitate a robust payment experience for consumers across different demographics with unique financial needs.

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

Visa Expands Reach Of Fintech Partner Connect Program

May 30, 2021

Visa has announced that it had expanded the Visa Fintech Partner Connect program. It is a program designed to help financial institutions quickly connect with a set of “vetted and selected” technology providers. It is now available to Visa customers in the United States and in several markets in Asia-Pacific, Central Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.

*Terry Angelos, senior vice president and global head of Financial Technology at Visa.*

The initiative is rooted in the belief that fintechs are key players in the industry today. Sometimes competing with banks and other traditional institutions, fintechs can also be excellent partners for the latter. The Visa Fintech Partner Connect program aims to foster such collaboration.

“In today’s climate, creating a competitive financial product requires more technology than ever. Consumers want seamless mobile and web interactions, and they want access to a wider range of digital banking capabilities, ”said Terry Angelos, senior vice president and global head of Financial Technology at Visa.

“Community banks will continue to evolve to best serve the needs of their customers and communities, and this means embracing the latest digital tools and technologies while also staying true to their relationship banking roots.
Read also:Uganda Issues First Fintech License, Which Costs Up To $2.8m To MTN, Airtel

Programmes such as Visa Fintech Partner Connect that help expedite the process of sourcing and vetting financial technology providers can help smaller banks accelerate their digital roadmap, retain and expand their customer base while reducing costs,”said ICBA Bancard President and CEO Tina Giorgio.

Transaction Capital Acquires South African Car Platform WeBuyCars For $116m

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

Egyptian Government Partners Visa for Fintech Startups Training Programme

February 28, 2021

The government of the Arab Republic of Egypt through its Information Technology Industry Development Agency has partnered with global card company, Visa to launch a fintech training programme offering a full-fledged package of benefits and services for Egyptian fintech startups and entrepreneurs. The ITIDA-VISA Mentorship Programme aims to enhance cooperation in supporting entrepreneurship, encouraging startups to develop innovative fintech solutions, and promoting digital payments in Egypt.

Through the programme, the selected fintech startups and entrepreneurs will be eligible to access VISA’s development Application Programming Interfaces (API), which facilitates integration with VISA’s global network and experimenting with VISA’s sandbox. They will also be given access to Visa’s global partner network to empower their business and enrich their market experience.

Moreso, the programme offers a prize of US$20,000 for the best performing startup, after completion of the technical training and the business mentorship that includes business models, market requirements review, and learning about business methodologies that speed up accessing Visa’s network. The fintechs wishing to participate in this even have till March 3^rd, 2021 to submit their applications.

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

Wallets Africa Partners With VISA to Help Businesses Issue Cards to Employees and Customers

November 20, 2020

As part of efforts to deepen financial inclusion through adoption of financial card technology, Nigerian fintech startup, Wallets Africa, has joined forces with global payments giant, Visa, to launch debit cards for its customers. Wallets Africa was birthed out of the need to engender financial transactions through digital wallets, and the startup has grown in strides in simplifying how users carry out transactions across the continent with just an app and a card.

Established two years ago (2018) by John Oke in 2018, the company has gone on to establish relationships and integrations with other cards, banks, and switch providers in Nigeria. Now, it is joining forces with Visa to extend the reach to a wider audience. It could be recalled that sometime in June, Wallets Africa closed a seven-figure round deal to enable it start issuance of its own prepaid naira cards to allow customers to withdraw cash at ATMs and make payments at POS terminals.

This partnership with Visa according to company sources came after Wallets Africa got accepted into Visa’s Fintech Fast Track Program. Visa says the programme creates an avenue for fintechs around the world to leverage its network “to introduce new and innovative payment experiences.” Similarly, it provides turnkey access to Visa’s ecosystem partners, online licensing, and APIs. The Fast Track Program has given the startup a further boost: issuing physical naira and dollar Visa cards.

Two months ago, Wallets Africa began issuing virtual dollar cards to its users, enabling them to buy items and courses, and make payments for subscriptions and tools online.

Speaking on the development, Wallets Africa Digital Marketing Manager, Franklin Ugobude, says that while the company was already issuing virtual Visa cards with its card technology, physical Visa cards needed to come into play because of the customers Wallets Africa couldn’t reach. “This is more direct as opposed to integrating with this, integrating with that. What we’ve done is a direct thing to the big switch, to Visa in this case. So we’re much psyched about it,” he says.

Wallets Africa added that both cards — virtual and physical — will be aimed at business users who hope to initiate local transactions as well as international transactions. Also, they’ll be able to make offline payments as well. “So whether you want to pay for your local ride, or need a card for your next holiday, Wallets has got you covered,” Oke adds. This business-facing side of Wallets Africa’s platform wasn’t launched until late last year. In June 2020, the startup had 1,400 businesses; now, the number has increased to over 4,000 in addition to its over 60,000 individual users.

This development means Wallets Africa users can now access physical and virtual Verve and Visa cards from the company. Moreso, it promises a top notch customer relations team that ensures that when users request for cards, Wallets Africa delivers them in less than two weeks. He also adds that users can make withdrawals with the dollar cards from any bank ATM in the country.

Otto Williams, VP, Fintech Partnerships of Visa, says the company is very enthusiastic about working with fintechs, and especially Wallets Africa on this new project. “The Wallets Africa team has made tremendous progress in a short time. I am impressed with the fact that they’ve successfully enabled Visa prepaid cards that work everywhere to thousands of digital natives and entrepreneurs in Nigeria. I look forward to seeing what they’ll do in other African countries soon.”

Oke, on the other hand, is keen to see how the partnership will evolve in the coming years. “We’ve been working with technology suppliers across the world since inception to help offer world-class financial services to Africans. We are very excited to have Visa on board as we continue on our journey.”

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

Paga Clicks Big With Visa Partnership on Fintech Payments

March 10, 2020

Otto Williams, Visa’s Head of Strategic Partnerships

Visa’s quest for a more organic foothold in Africa for payments and technology within the continent and abroad clicked big with a new partnership deal with Nigeria based startup Paga. The deal has been described as very important for Paga’s ongoing expansion across Africa and even Mexico in North America. Paga has been on expanding its operations across West Africa and the rest of Africa with a recent foothold in Ethiopia which has helped the startup which has created a multi-channel network for over 14 million customers in Nigeria to transfer money, pay-bills and buy things digitally through its mobile-app or 24,840 agents.

With the new arrangement, Paga account holders can transact on Visa’s global network. It will also see both companies work together on tech.The collaboration reflects a strategy of the American financial services giant to expand in Africa working with the continent’s top startups. Visa’s partnership with Paga doesn’t include investment in the startup, but it is expected to drive larger payment volumes for both companies — and Visa’s priorities in Africa.

“We want to digitize cash, that’s a strategic priority for us. We want to expand merchant access to payment acceptance and we want to drive financial inclusion,” said Otto Williams, Visa’s Head of Strategic Partnerships, Fintech and Ventures for Africa. The Paga-Visa arrangement will bring new merchant options to Paga’s network. “Based on the partnership we’re going to launch QR codes and NFC [payments] into the market in Nigeria — alternative ways of receiving payments than bringing out a physical card,” said Oviosu.

Visa and Paga’s engineering teams have already started working together, according to Oviosu, and Paga expects to roll-out these new options in Nigeria sometime in second-quarter 2020. The startup is pivoting toward becoming less of a Nigeria-centered company and more an emerging markets fintech platform. In January, Paga acquired Ethiopian software development company Apposit, on plans to launch in the East African country. After Nigeria, Ethiopia has Africa’s second-largest population of 114 million. Paga has also opened an office in Mexico and will launch its payments products there this year.

“There are several very large countries around the world in Africa, Latin America, Asia where these [financial inclusion] problems still exist. So our strategy is not an African strategy…We want to go where these problems exist in a large way and build a global payments business,” Oviosu was quoted as saying. The Visa-Paga partnership comes as fintech has become Africa’s best funded startup sector — according to latest VC reporting — with thousands of ventures vying to scale digital-finance products to the continent’s unbanked and underbanked consumers and SMEs.

As a company, Visa maintains multiple partnerships with Africa’s largest banks, but collaborating with the continent’s VC backed fintech ventures has taken center-stage. This was confirmed in Visa’s recent 2020 Investor Day presentation, which dedicated several slides to its strategy of “partnering with leading African players” in the startup ecosystem.

The global financial services company has entered into collaborations with several African fintech ventures, such as B2B payments company Flutterwave and South African startup Yoco, which is focused on enterprise payments services and hardware for SMEs. Visa has also jumped into the venture funding realm in African fintech. In 2019 Nigerian financial services company Interswitch reached a $1 billion valuation and unicorn status after Visa acquired a minority equity stake.

Visa’s Otto Williams, who has taken a lead on the company’s Africa strategy, noted non-equity collaborations will remain the primary focus — though those could lead to VC down the road. “If we have a commercial partnership in place that creates the right investment thesis…you know those strategic partnerships inform venture investments,” Williams said. Of course, Visa’s isn’t the only American financial services firm backing African tech companies. In 2019, its rival Mastercard invested $50 million in Pan-African e-commerce venture Jumia. The two are working together on developing fintech services across Jumia’s customer network.

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

South African Business People Will Now Get 5-year Visas To Stay In Namibia

November 17, 2019

For South African business people, it has become easier to stay longer in Namibia. The Nambian government has announced that Namibia will issue five-year visas to South African business people. The decision followed complaints by some Namibian people doing business with South African citizens, Nambian President Hage Geingob said when addressing the non-profit financial organization Namibia Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Here Is All You Need To Know

According to Geingob, the current policy of two-year business visas to South African citizens has unfortunately hampered investment and economic growth.

Apart from prolonging the duration of Namibian visa, the government is also planning to introduce e-visas to South African citizens.

What This Means For South African Business People

South Africa is Namibia’s largest trading partner in the South African Development Community, a 16-member inter-governmental organization.

In March 2016, the Namibian government imposed a requirement that South African business people must apply for a business travel visa directly from the Namibian High Commission in order to gain access to the country. If you don’t apply for a visa directly with the commission, at least three days prior to your business trip, you will be kindly asked to return to South Africa.

Many business owners were turned away, but the Namibian government has recognised that it’s making business life difficult for its most prominent trading partners.

Hage G. Geingob, Namibia’s president, says that Namibia needs South Africans. And that his constituency is working towards solutions that enable more South African businesses to trade with his country.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world

Here Are The Top 20 Countries In Africa With The Most Visa Open Policies

November 14, 2019

President of African Development Bank, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina

Moving across Africa has never been easier than now according to the 2019 Africa Visa Openness Index published by the African Union Commission in conjunction with the African Development Bank. This is some good news for African startups looking to expand across African countries as well as migrants within Africa.

“Our work on the Africa Visa Openness Index continues to monitor how Africa is doing on free movement of people. Progress is being made but much still needs to be done. To integrate Africa, we should bring down the walls. The free movement of people, and especially labour mobility, are crucial for promoting investments,” African Development Bank President Akinwumi A. Adesina said.

Here Is All You Need To Know

For the first time, African travellers have liberal access to over half the continent, the 2019 Africa Visa Openness Index published by the African Union Commission and African Developmen tBank, reveals.
The report was launched on Monday on the sidelines of the AfricaInvestmentForum, which opened in Johannesburg, SouthAfrica.
This fourth edition of the Index shows that 47 countries improved or maintained their visa openness scores in 2019.
African visitors no longer need a visa to travel to a quarter of other African countries, whereas visa-free travel was only possible to a fifth of the continent in 2016.
Currently, 21 African countries also offer eVisas to make travel more accessible, up from up from 16 in 2018, 13 in 2017, and 9 in 2016).
The 2019 top performers on visa openness rank among the top countries for foreign direct investment in Africa, and benefit from strong levels of growth, including in tourism.
According to the report, Seychelles and Benin remain the top-performing countries, offering visa-free access to over 50 Africans countries while Ghana and Ethiopia moved up a couple of places to enter the top 20 list.

From the report, the under-listed are the top 20 visa open countries in Africa:

Seychelles — visa free (53)
Benin — visa free (53)
Senegal — visa free (22), visa on arrival (31)
Rwanda — visa free (17), visa on arrival (36), visa required (1)
Ghana — visa free (18), visa on arrival (34), visa required (1)
Uganda — visa free (18), visa on arrival (34), visa required (1)
Guinea Bissau — visa free (14), visa on arrival (39)
Cabo Verde — visa free (16), visa on arrival (36), visa required (1)
Togo — visa free (14), visa on arrival (38), visa required (1)
Mauritania — visa free (9), visa on arrival (44)

Mozambique — visa free (9), visa on arrival (44)
Mauritius visa free — (27), visa on arrival (21), visa required (5)
Kenya — visa free (18), visa on arrival (32), visa required (3)
Comoros — visa free (0), visa on arrival (53)
Madagascar — visa free (0), visa on arrival (53)
Somalia — visa free (0), visa on arrival (53)
Djibouti — visa free (0), visa on arrival (52), visa required (1)
Ethiopia — visa free (2), visa on arrival (49), visa required (2)
Tanzania — visa free (16), visa on arrival (25), visa required (12)
Gambia — visa free (28), visa on arrival (0), visa required (2

The Need For Others To Loosen Up

For the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahama, the role of integration for the development of the continent and the fulfilment of its people’s aspiration to well-being cannot be overemphasized.

‘‘I congratulate those member states that have taken measures to ease the procedures for the entry of African nationals into their territories,’’ he said, ‘‘and urge those that have not yet done so to join this growing momentum.”

To that effect, the report recommends that African countries need to make more progress on visa regimes, including introducing visas-on-arrival.

By breaking down borders, Africa will be able to capitalize on gains from regional integration initiatives such as the African Continental Free Trade Area, the Single African Air Transport Market, and the Protocol on the Free Movement of Persons, it says.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world

Africa Set To Get Its Second Billion Dollar Startup As Visa Readies To Pour $200 million Into Nigeria’s Interswitch

November 12, 2019

Once Visa, the global payment giant , concludes its plan to pour over $200 million, representing about 20% ownership stake, Nigerian tech startup Interswitch would then be valued at as much as $1.5 billion, making it Africa’s second unicorn after Jumia. This would mark a watershed for the fintech startup that started its journey in 2002, even as it plans to list on London Stock Exchanges in its first ever IPO.

Here Is All You Need To Know

According to UK’s Sky News’ reports, Global payments giant Visa is paying $200 million for 20% stake in Interswitch, Nigeria’s largest electronic payments company.
With this investment, Interswitch would achieve a billion-dollar valuation 17-years after it was founded.
While Visa’s stake purchase would confirm Interswitch’s unicorn status, the company was reportedly set to be valued at as much as $1.5 billion ahead of a planned IPO next year. The company’s previous plans for a 2016 IPO were scrapped amid a recession in Nigeria.
Interswitch would not be the first Africa-focused tech company to achieve the billion-dollar so-called unicorn status.
Jumia, the e-commerce company, led by a mix of international executives and investors listed for over $1.4 billion in April.

Why Visa Is Investing

This investment into Interswitch from Visa is the latest in a string of moves by global payments companies backing African fintech companies and seeking high-growth bets in emerging markets.

The fundamental importance of the services that fintech companies provide — from powering payments, facilitating savings and ensuring financial inclusion for the unbanked to tackling access to credit for small businesses and individuals — underlines why the sector holds long-term appeal for investors.

By most metrics, Interswitch represents significant value proposition given its established strength as an early-day and major player in financial technology with operations in over 20 African countries.

African fintech startups backed by global payments giants include Paystack Visa, Stripe (Aug. 2018)Flutterwave Mastercard (Oct. 2018)TalaPayPal (Oct. 2018)BranchVisa (April 2019)InterswitchVisa (Nov. 2019)

A Look At Interswitch

Interswitch facilitates the exchange of value between service providers by providing a secure shared payment infrastructure and integrated message broker solutions for financial transactions, eCommerce, telecommunications value-added services, eBilling, payment collections, and disbursements. The company developed and administers Verve, the leading card scheme in Nigeria.

The displayed data on popular payment methods in stores, restaurants and other points of sale shows results of the Statista Global Consumer Survey conducted in Nigeria in 2017.

The Verve card, which is currently issued by banks in Nigeria, is the first and only chip and PIN card accepted across multiple payment channels including ATMs, Point of Sale (PoS) terminals, online, mobile and at banks, and enjoys the largest range of value-added services.

The company has been at the forefront of the development and growth of the e-payment sector in Nigeria, which is evidenced by its unique position of being the only switching and processing company connected to all banks in the country as well as to over 10,000 ATMs and 11,000 PoS terminals.

Aside from this, the company is the leading processor for MasterCard and the market leader in merchant acquiring/PoS, a segment that is still emerging and has the potential for tremendous growth in Nigeria.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world

Travelers To South Africa Would Need e-Visa By October This Year

June 26, 2019

By October 2019 you would need an e-visa if you are interested in traveling to South Africa. This is because South Africa has concluded all plans to reform its current visa regime.

“We’re now at the stage where we’re doing functional testing, once that’s done we’ll do a proper pilot with a few countries,” said South Africa’s Home Affairs acting director-general Thulani Mavuso.“Once that’s completed we’ll go into production.”

With this, South Africa said it is targeting people with highly sought after skills who will boost investment in the country.

“They [e-Visas] provide predictability, people will be able to stay longer in South Africa; people will be able to study etc. The realisation of the visa regime will literally allow us to double our tourism numbers internationally,” said South Africa’s Department of Tourism spokesperson Blessing Manale.

The Implication of This

Currently, all visitors to South Africa have to spend several hours or days at several South African missions overseas in order to get visas or at the port of entry into South Africa. This is even made worse because the port of entry visas are not issued on arrival at South African ports of entry to foreigners who are subject to South African visa control — such foreigners arriving without visas shall be refused entry into the Republic of South Africa and placed on return flights.

South Africa Grows Tourist Arrivals for 2018

But all that is about to change. With an e-Visa which can, of course, be obtained easily anywhere with an internet connection and which saves time that you would otherwise spend on visa applications at South African foreign missions or at the ports of entry into South Africa (if you are eligible), access to South or denial from visiting South Africa can be stamped right from the comfort of your home.

Manale was merely saying what was obvious. South Africa’s visa regime had previously been one of the constraints for tourism, and the roll-out of the e-visas will be beneficial for both tourists and for the local economy. The system will also save people a lot of time as they spend much less time at airports and waiting for administration approval.

It Doesn’t Stop At e-VISA, New e-Gates Are Coming

With e-Visa follows e-gates. South Africa’s Home Affairs is also planning to pilot new e-gates at a number of South African airports in 2019.
The gates will first be piloted at Cape Town International Airport and will form part of the implementation of the Biometric Movement Control System (BMCS).
A further rollout will be done in a phased approach, with OR Tambo, and King Shaka International airports to follow.

Eight of the top ten countries who visit South Africa come from states that don’t need visas to enter the country. More than two-thirds of all the country’s visitors come from these ten countries. Source: Statistics South Africa

“The broad objective of the project is the facilitation of movement of low-risk travellers through a self-service solution, hence freeing capacity for the assessment of high-risk categories by an immigration officer,” the spokesperson said.

“In line with the risk-based approach to managing migration, the first phase will focus on South African passport holders (excluding minors).”

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.

Kelechi Deca

Adding Visa cards to its payments stack will also enable easier access to Carbon Zero, the company’s Buy Now Pay Later product, which allows consumers zero percent financing on items they need the most but cannot afford immediately.

The partnership with Visa will undoubtedly go a long way in consolidating Carbon’s first-rate digital bank status and facilitate a robust payment experience for consumers across different demographics with unique financial needs.

Kelechi Deca

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca

Here Is All You Need To Know

What This Means For South African Business People

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Here Is All You Need To Know

From the report, the under-listed are the top 20 visa open countries in Africa:

Seychelles — visa free (53)

Benin — visa free (53)

Senegal — visa free (22), visa on arrival (31)

Rwanda — visa free (17), visa on arrival (36), visa required (1)

Ghana — visa free (18), visa on arrival (34), visa required (1)

Uganda — visa free (18), visa on arrival (34), visa required (1)

Guinea Bissau — visa free (14), visa on arrival (39)

Cabo Verde — visa free (16), visa on arrival (36), visa required (1)

Togo — visa free (14), visa on arrival (38), visa required (1)

Mauritania — visa free (9), visa on arrival (44)

Mozambique — visa free (9), visa on arrival (44)

Mauritius visa free — (27), visa on arrival (21), visa required (5)

Kenya — visa free (18), visa on arrival (32), visa required (3)

Comoros — visa free (0), visa on arrival (53)

Madagascar — visa free (0), visa on arrival (53)

Somalia — visa free (0), visa on arrival (53)

Djibouti — visa free (0), visa on arrival (52), visa required (1)

Ethiopia — visa free (2), visa on arrival (49), visa required (2)

Tanzania — visa free (16), visa on arrival (25), visa required (12)

Gambia — visa free (28), visa on arrival (0), visa required (2

The Need For Others To Loosen Up

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Here Is All You Need To Know

Why Visa Is Investing

A Look At Interswitch

Charles Rapulu Udoh

The Implication of This

It Doesn’t Stop At e-VISA, New e-Gates Are Coming

Charles Rapulu Udoh

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