Senegal leans on Visa’s digital payments muscle to drive financial inclusion

The Senegalese government and Visa have held discussions for a collaboration that is expected to expand the company’s digital payment services in the country, and in so doing, increase financial inclusion.

Senegal’s Minister of Communication, Telecommunications and Digital Economy, Alioune Sall, and a Visa delegation led by the company’s Vice President and General Manager for Francophone and Lusophone West and Central Africa, Ismahili Diaby, held discussions on this partnership recently.

In the course of the exchange, the delegation from the American payment giant said their ambition is to expand Visa card and mobile payments capabilities in Senegal as the country pushes on with its digital transformation agenda.

Visa already has a presence in Senegal since 2001 through its partnership with local banks, fintechs and telecoms service providers. But the new collaboration will see a scale-up of its offering in the country.

The partnership, according to the partners, fits into Senegal’s ‘New Deal Technologique’ blueprint which hopes to make the west African country a fully digital nation through the implementation of digital public infrastructure (DPI) projects.

An announcement from the Digital Economy ministry said during the discussion, Visa committed to reinforcing its presence in Senegal by expanding the availability of its services and introducing new payment technologies.

Among other things, the company agreed to support the putting in place of a digital payment infrastructure to help the state increase revenue and modernize access to payment services; increase the number of Visa points of sale; encourage the adoption of contactless and mobile payment methods; support financial literacy and awareness on the importance of digital payment systems, and create a collaborative platform with fintechs aimed at developing innovative solutions.

In order to concretize the planned collaboration, both parties also agreed to put in place a joint working group that will be charged with exploring avenues of collaboration on priority projects under the New Deal Technologique, and to speed up the expansion of Visa payment products through pilot projects to be identified.

The agreement between Senegal and Visa to support the New Deal Technologique strategy comes just days after the Gates Foundation also pledged to support the digital transformation initiative. President Diomaye Faye and Bill Gates signed an MoU for a $10 million grant, on the margins of the 80^th United Nation General Assembly last month.

Elsewhere in Africa, Visa is collaborating with Tech5 on financial inclusion projects in Ethiopia through the FaydaPass wallet, and in Djibouti with a yet-to-be developed digital wallet which seeks to expand digital inclusion in that country.

Article Topics

Africa  |  digital payments  |  digital wallets  |  financial inclusion  |  New Deal Technologique  |  Senegal  |  Visa