Mastercard and OPay have come together for a strategic alliance leading to economic opulence and greater financial inclusion by paving the way for digital commerce for millions of people in Africa and the Middle East regions.
This partnership allows OPay’s consumers and vendors to interact with companies, with the support of a virtual payment solution of Mastercard integrated into OPay eWallet. These consumers and vendors come from places like Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, Egypt, and Pakistan.
Mastercard finds this alliance momentous as part of its emerging market strategy where Mastercard is to partner with young Fintechs such as OPay to broaden digital payment access and create space for financial inclusion and support new-age apps. Modern customers want an easy and smooth app operating experience from a single platform enabling them to have hassle-free interactions for their everyday requirements. These needs comprise money transactions, online food and grocery ordering, transport booking and more.
Amnah Ajmal, Executive Vice President for Market Development, Mastercard EEMEA, stated, “At Mastercard, our innovation strategy is rooted in partnerships to support inclusion at scale. 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.”
At the initial partnership level, consumers of OPay will have the advantage of shopping at global leisure brands, entertainment, online streaming, accommodation, and more as the virtual payment solution of Mastercard is integrated into Opay e-wallets. They can access this service whether they have a bank account or not. This service will be helpful to small enterprises which can do business abroad and pay securely with virtual payment.
Yahui Zhou, CEO, OPay, commented, “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 the Middle East and Africa.”