Mastercard partners fintechs, launches Engage programme in Africa

Mastercard has launched its Engage programme in sub-Saharan Africa aimed at introducing local financial technology (fintech) innovators to its broad partnership opportunities.

Launched in two major African cities – Nairobi, Kenya and Lagos, Nigeria – the Mastercard Engage is a global partnership and development programme that builds digital payment technology ecosystems and enhances speed to market.

The programme, according to Mastercard, connects financial institutions, merchants and IoT manufacturers with the right technology partners that can help them deliver innovative payment solutions, for businesses and consumers alike.

Speaking on the launch, the Area Business Head, Mastercard West Africa, Omokehinde Adebanjo, said: “At Mastercard, we believe partnerships – particularly with regional fintechs with a deep understanding of the local environment – are crucial for ongoing innovation that delivers relevant payment solutions to empower communities.

“Engage connects financial institutions and merchants with technology partners within a broad innovation ecosystem, helping companies create and launch the most innovative payment solutions for businesses and consumers.”

Since its launch in February 2017, the platform has tripled the number of fintech partners. “The capabilities of these partners include deploying digital wallets, enabling tokenization, facilitating instant payouts and launching mobile point of sale solutions, among others,” the company said.

Mastercard Engage addresses three key challenges:

• the need for payment solution providers to constantly evolve their offerings;
• the growing pressure for financial services organisations to harness digital innovation to offer secure, compliant solutions;
• and the need for advanced, convenient financial solutions to empower business and consumers.

Mastercard Engage uses a publicly available website to help issuers and merchants find the right solutions, such as digital wallets, mobile POS, tokenized payment services, security solutions, and payment controls solutions, and identify qualified technology partners who can help them build those solutions in their markets.

These fully vetted and experienced companies, according to the global payment solution company, offer interoperable solutions that meet industry and Mastercard standards and are able to evolve with Mastercard as the payment ecosystem continues to innovate.

“Use cases range from contactless payments, NFC wallets on wearable devices and secure card-on-file e-commerce, through to mobile POS and advanced commercial payment solutions,” it stated.