MasterCard has reaffirmed its support for Zimbabwe’s digital transformation by creating a new wave of digital payment and inclusive growth in the country. MasterCard will partner with the local, private and public sector to drive greater financial inclusion through the implementation of innovative payment technologies in the country.
In the same vein, Mastercard partnered recently with EcoCash to launch EcoCash scan and pay, offering a secure and instant QR code-based mobile payment solution to merchant and citizens of Zimbabwe. The technology leverages on low-cost QR code technology rather than a physical point of sale Device (POS), it also allows small and informal traders to accept digital payments.
Mastercard President and CEO, Ajay Banga visited Zimbabwe, meeting with key government and private sector stakeholders including, Zimbabwe’s Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Professor Mthuli Ncube and Dr John Mangudya, Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, to formalise MasterCard’s support for payments innovations in Zimbabwe.
Mastercard President and CEO, Ajay Banga disclosed the company’s plan to establish an office in Harare, capital of Zimbabwe to coordinate and ease its effort to address financial inclusion.
The office will also enable Mastercard to provide more effective support to its customers in neighbouring Southern African countries.
“Too many people and businesses are still excluded from the financial mainstream. This leaves them without the things we take for granted a way to save money for a rainy day, get loans, or insure themselves or their crops,” said Ajay while speaking at the company CEO conversation event.
“Harnessing our global technologies and expertise, our Zimbabwean team will closely collaborate with all stakeholders to solve local challenges and enable more inclusion in the formal financial system,” he added.
With Mastercard’s presence, expertise and products it will prove relevant across Southern Africa and in Zimbabwe, as the country implements the National Financial Inclusion Strategy, aimed at increasing access to formal financial services from 69 per cent in 2014 to at least 90 per cent by 2020.
Dr John Mangudya, Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, says: “We see Mastercard’s investment as a positive development that will help us achieve our long-standing vision and our strategic plan to accelerate the shift towards cashless payments, modernise payments systems and infrastructure, and build an inclusive financial sector that supports the socio-economic development of the country.”
In March 2018, Mastercard partnered with Selcom, one of Tanzania’s leading fine charity companies, to expand its mobile payment solution, Masterpass QR, across Tanzania. Both companies signed a seven-year strategic partnership agreement to introduce a more diverse range of payment solutions in the country.
