Tingo Mobile has entered into an agreement with Visa, a move the firm says will help deepen its financial services offerings in Nigeria and expand across Africa.
The agri-FinTech business announced the agreement in a news release Wednesday (Oct. 27), saying it will allow the firm to increase the number of financial services offered on its platform, particularly in the digital payments realm.
Tingo’s platforms are Nwassa, an argi-marketplace that connects farmers with other players in the agricultural value chain, and Tingo Pay, an in-house payment platform. The partnership will let Tingo issue Visa cards to members of both platforms.
“We are delighted to partner with Visa, the leading company in the global financial services sector. Visa has the mission of connecting the world to secure payment networks and enabling individuals, businesses and economies to thrive, which aligns with Tingo’s mission,” said Dozy Mmobuosi, founder and group CEO of Tingo Inc.
Tingo says its goal is to deliver “significant social impact to many rural communities and providing a unique platform to enable financial inclusion, social upliftment, wealth creation and a sophisticated marketplace to promote its produce to markets both domestic and international.”
The company says it works to promote women entrepreneurs, with more than 4,000 women acting as agents supporting the rollout of its services in Nigeria. Tingo had 9.3 million subscribers as of the end of 2020.
Mmobuosi added that Visa will be an important player as Tingo Mobile expands across other African markets, providing technical support to enable payments functionalities.
The two companies will also collaborate on financial literacy campaigns to “lead to greater financial and economic independence across the continent.”
Read more: How The Pandemic Is Reshaping The Nigerian Digital Payments Landscape
Nigeria saw a shift in its payments landscape when the COVID-19 pandemic began. As PYMNTS reported last year, people who had long enjoyed making cash payments found themselves forced to switch to digital as in-person transactions became far less frequent.
“We saw significant upsurge in the number of signups — about five times growth in the first two months of Q2 versus Q1 for new registrations,” said Jay Alabraba, co-founder of Nigerian payments platform Paga.
“We also saw a significant growth on the merchant side when it came to taking noncash payments as well. The number of merchants recruited during the lockdown period pretty much doubled from what we had in January and February,” he said.
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