- Brazilian payments provider company EBANX has announced its plans to enter Africa, starting with Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa. The company which originated in Brazil a decade back has currently grown into a billion-dollar company.
Brazilian payments provider company EBANX has announced its plans to enter Africa, starting with Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa. The company which originated in Brazil a decade back has currently grown into a billion-dollar company. It has expanded its footprints to more than 15 countries supporting global companies like Spotify, and Uber to receive payments from customers living in Latin America. It is also on the cusp of entering the US market too.
Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa constitute half of Africa’s GDP and are Africa’s largest markets for fintech, though the penetration of digital payment methods is at different levels. The use of cash in e-commerce in South Africa is very low at 9%, which makes it an interesting market for EBANX. The Brazilian company plans to float products in the cash-dominant continent that will speed up the growth of the digital economy said Paula Bellizia, EBANX’s global payments head.
The move is in line with Africa’s growing digitization led by fintech companies like Flutterwave, MFS Africa, and OPay. At the same time, EBANX is facing stiff competition from other players like dLocal, the Nasdaq-listed Uruguayan payments company. It had to lay off one-fifth of its employees this June. Speaking about the Africa business plan, João Del Valle, CEO and co-founder of EBANX, observed that Africa’s present fintech momentum was similar to the trend in Latin America in 2012 when his company was launched. EBANX, he said, will be a potential partner and not a disruptor of African fintech. It plans to draw lessons from M-Pesa’s ubiquity in Kenya, and OZOW’s capabilities in electronic fund transfers in South Africa. In Nigeria, it plans to facilitate bank transfers for those without smartphones.
Also read
https://trendsnafrica.com/fintech-companies-becoming-unicorns-in-africa/
https://trendsnafrica.com/m-pesa-virtual-visa-card-undercuts-kenyas-commercial-banks/
