Mastercard has partnered with enza, a payments platform, to give fintechs across Africa access to its services. The deal allows fintechs to embed Mastercard’s capabilities into their products through enza, speeding up how fast they can launch and scale.
The move comes as fintech activity in Africa surges. A European Investment Bank report shows the number of fintech firms on the continent has almost tripled since 2020. Many of them offer embedded payments as part of wider services aimed at improving access to finance.
Fintechs using enza can now issue Mastercard cards, set up pre-paid or post-paid accounts, and enable payments across physical stores, websites and apps. enza will handle system integration, account hosting and security.
Mastercard’s Mete Guney said the partnership is about giving fintechs faster access to global payments infrastructure.
enza, launched in 2023, is based in Abu Dhabi and operates in Egypt, South Africa and Nigeria.
