12 Aug The Intricacies of eCommerce Payments Across Africa - List of Payment Gateways

To put together a list of payment gateways across Africa is almost impossible.  Africa is a continent and is made up of 54 countries, each with their unique dynamics in terms of eCommerce payment.  Most systems are not interoperable and providers of online payment capability vary considerably.  

Firstly, online payment gateway acquiring across Africa is segmented into silos.  Payment provision is done by banks, MNO’s (telecom companies), payment gateways, aggregators, Each of them are competing for their piece of the eCommerce and online payment turf.

Secondly it is a mishmash of local operators and global players coming onto the continent to serve merchants.  Global payment gateways link and extend their services as and when needed based on demand from their merchant customers and so it is largely done on an ad hoc basis.

Thirdly there are very successful wallet and hybrid payments companies like Alipay and Wechat who have made an impact in a quest to serve their customers who are visiting or working throughout Africa.  This is currently a small share of the market as compared to the mobile money market penetration.

Fourthly, most payment gateways across Africa service only a single country or two which makes it difficult for global eCommerce merchants who are looking for a single integration to the most popular eCommerce payment methods in their target region. 

So as you can see to put together a list of payment gateways would be futile.  With African Payment Solutions you only have to do a single integration for mobile money and for card, which gives you multiple countries and payment methods, saving time and money.

If you are a multinational eCommerce company looking to expand to Africa for your online payments then contact African Payment Solutions now