Visa to invest $1bn in Africa over 5 years to cash in on e-payments boom

US President Joe Biden is hosting dozens of African leaders for the three-day event, which started on Tuesday in Washington, D.C.
"Visa has been investing in Africa for several decades to grow a truly local business," chief executive officer Alfred Kelly Jr said in a statement.
The investments in Africa shine a new light on a major growth opportunity on the continent where cash is likely to be challenged in coming years as e-payments gain momentum, according to a McKinsey report in September.
Africa's booming e-payments market is expected to see revenues grow by nearly 20% a year, reaching around $40bn by 2025, compared with about $200 bn in Latin America, the report added.
"It's one of our fastest growing regions," Andrew Torre, Visa's regional president for central and eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, said in an interview on Wednesday.
The world's largest payments processor has added over 50% more employees in the continent since the end of 2019, with the vast majority during the pandemic, he added.
The investments will scale Visa's operations in Africa and deepen ties with governments, fintechs and merchants, according to the statement. It will also help "strengthen the payment ecosystem through new innovations and technologies".
Among new technologies, the company recently rolled out Visa Acceptance Cloud, a platform which turns virtually any device into a payments terminal.
Source: Reuters

Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the world's largest multimedia news provider, reaching billions of people worldwide every day.
Go to: https://www.reuters.com/

Related
Women in business: Visa’s ‘She’s Next’ programme now open for 2025 SA applications 27 Jun 2025 Yellow Card and Visa's strategic alliance aims to fast-track stablecoin adoption globally 24 Jun 2025 #Cannes2025 Media Person of the Year to Amazon president and CEO 18 Jun 2025 #BizTrends2025: Discovery CEO Hylton Kallner on the future of spending 15 Apr 2025 #BizTrends2025: Discovery - Visa: 2025 the year of returning to the office 10 Apr 2025 YAEI and Absa launch the YAEI x Absa Youth Entrepreneurship Programme 1 Apr 2025