Mastercard expands payment options for merchants...announce Masterpass Kenya success

Mastercard has announced that its card-on-file service Masterpass is now accepted at more than 10,000 small- and medium-sized merchants that use Sage Payment Solutions, a value added payment solution provided by Sage North America. The partnership enables merchants to use Masterpass to simplify the digital payments process for customers.

The partnership aims to simplify Masterpass acceptance for merchants, which helps smaller businesses provide additional payment options to their customers easily and often at minimal cost.

“Small and medium size businesses play an important role in displacing cash and driving digital payment growth,” said Linda Kirkpatrick, executive vice president, Merchants and Acceptance, U.S. “Our collaboration with Sage Payment Solutions means that thousands of smaller merchants will now have access to a new, secure checkout option to advance their business and remove friction at the point of sale.  This agreement reinforces the commitment we’ve made at Mastercard to increase acceptance by bringing the safest and best payment technologies to all merchants.”

 “We know that small businesses and their customers expect a frictionless buying experience from anywhere and need an affordable, dependable payment solution to provide this,” said Paul Bridgewater, CEO, Sage Payment Solutions. “Working with Mastercard, we’re able to keep both merchants and their customers ahead of change, providing simple, intuitive technology that enables the selling and buying of goods from anywhere via any type of payment system. This partnership represents an important step towards our ambition of helping customers take on what’s now and what’s next in their business.”

With the successes recorded with the solution, Mastercard is also committed to empowering over 150,000 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) in Kenya within 2017 by giving them access to Masterpass QR. The mobile driven, Person-to-Merchant payment solution will be introduced through various financial institutions and other partners in the market from February onwards.

Delivering efficient, secure and cost effective acceptance solutions to Kenyan MSMEs is an essential step to providing the level of support required to grow and develop their businesses. With at least 80 percent of the country's most critical jobs are created by MSMs, according to Kenya's Micro and Small Enterprises Authority, it is vital to introduce solutions that drive operational efficiency in these businesses.

The regional commitment to impact over 150,000 MSMEs in Kenya within 2017 is in support of the Mastercard global goal of connecting 40 million micro and small merchants to its electronic payments network by the end of 2020. This expands on the company's Universal Financial Access 2020 commitment made in 2015.

Masterpass QR provides a fast, convenient and secure payment solution for consumers and a reliable and instant acceptance offering for merchants. Cash is no longer required, making transacting safer for merchants who will not need to worry about carrying large sums of cash around with them.

MSMEs have traditionally struggled with the cost of installing payment infrastructure such as point-of-sale devices, as well as with issues of security surrounding payment. Masterpass QR combats these challenges in a simple and user-friendly manner helping to stimulate the economy by digitizing a sector previously solely dependent on cash-based transactions.

"Kenyans are entrepreneurial by nature, and there are incredibly exciting business ideas coming from the region. We want to help these business owners to grow and prosper by delivering solutions that meet the needs of these business owners," said Daniel Monehin, Division President for Sub-Saharan Africa and head of Financial Inclusion for International Markets at Mastercard.

Mastercard is committed to financially including micro merchants across Africa by working with various partners across a multitude of sectors. Masterpass QR is currently being rolled out in Nigeria, Ghana, Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania and will soon be in a number of countries across the continent. It drives efficiency and transparency for MSMEs, something many business owners in Kenya are not able to achieve currently.

Monehin said, "Kenya is leading the charge in financial inclusion, with the World Bank reporting that 75 percent of its citizens over the age of 15 having a bank account. Masterpass QR has the potential to drive that number up further and more rapidly due to the penetration of mobile devices in the market. Technology is playing an important role to ensuring all citizens have access to solutions that help move them beyond cash."