Mastercard and Flowcart Power East Africa Social Commerce

Mastercard launched a partnership with Kenya-based social commerce company Flowcart, according to a Monday (Sept. 7) news release.

The collaboration centers on embedding “secure, seamless card payments directly within social and conversational commerce journeys,” the release said.

“Social commerce is redefining how consumers discover and engage with brands,” Shehryar Ali, senior vice president and country manager for East Africa and Indian Ocean Islands at Mastercard, said in the release. “Our collaboration with Flowcart enables us to embed secure, seamless payments directly into these experiences, unlocking new growth opportunities for merchants and expanding digital payment acceptance in one of Africa’s fastest-growing digital economies.”

The partnership will begin in Kenya before expanding into East Africa and high-growth markets such as South Africa, Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire, “supported by broader scaling across pan-African markets,” the release said.

The collaboration “represents a shift toward embedded, conversational commerce, where payments become a native part of customer engagement,” according to the release. WhatsApp, for example, now handles over 20% of Kenya’s eCommerce orders.

By linking Flowcart’s artificial intelligence-powered commerce orchestration platform and Mastercard’s payment network, the companies aim to help merchants capitalize on this trend to boost transaction frequency, fuel repeat purchases and expand acceptance into “underserved and informal” segments of the commerce space, per the release.

“The solution is designed to support Kenya’s rapidly growing creator economy, empowering social sellers to monetize their audience directly within the platforms where they engage them,” the release said. “By enabling a complete ‘chat-to-pay’ loop, from discovery to repeat purchase, the agreement removes friction and helps merchants increase conversion rates.”

The partnership comes as digital channels help small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) extend their reach and see a growth advantage over their store-focused peers, the PYMNTS Intelligence report “The SMB Growth Engine: How Digital Sales and Customer Tracking Drive Revenue” found in July.

SMB revenue in the United States increased an average of 9.5% in 2025, more than double the 4.7% rise in nominal gross domestic product. Digital channels drove 57% of SMB sales on average, compared with 41% from physical channels.