OPay, Mastercard Tie-Up Drives Financial Inclusion in Middle East, Africa

OPay and Mastercard are collaborating to drive financial inclusion across the Middle East and Africa by partnering to open up digital commerce in the region, according to a press release Wednesday (May 18).

The mobile payments FinTech startup OPay was launched in Nigeria in 2018 by founder and CEO Yahui Zhou. The partnership with Mastercard allows merchants in Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, Pakistan, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates to further engage with businesses around the world, per the release.

Mastercard said it is working to develop more inroads to assist emerging markets. Its collaboration with OPay and similar growing FinTechs will help it create new pathways to support financial inclusion and the next generation of super-apps, per the release.

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“At Mastercard, our innovation strategy is rooted in partnerships to support inclusion at scale,” said Amnah Ajmal, executive vice president for market development, Mastercard EEMEA. “Our partnership with OPay demonstrates our commitment to supporting payments providers across the world to create an interconnected global payments ecosystem that benefits an array of consumers with unique needs.”

Consumers are often looking for easy user experiences on a single platform that offers multiple interactions for daily needs, including money transfers, food deliveries and transportation needs, according to the release.

Mastercard’s virtual payment solution will be linked to customers’ OPay wallets, enabling seamless shopping for global brands in leisure, travel, accommodation, entertainment, streaming services and more.

“As the leading FinTech in the Middle East and Africa, we are delighted to be partnering with Mastercard as we continue on our journey to promote financial inclusion, helping to open up the global economy to more consumers and businesses across Middle East and Africa,” Zhou said.

OPay said it has grown active users to 15 million in dozens of markets since its debut four years ago and processes millions of transactions per day on average. The company has a significant market share in Africa, where it said users have saved billions in USD using its credit-linked savings accounts via mobile wallets and small loans from lenders that use its platform.