Ghana's Boost partners Mastercard to support small businesses

Key Takeaways

Across Africa, merchant acquisition is proving to be the "new" scramble for digital services on the continent. In an estimated $800 billion informal trade economy comprising more than 56 million micro, small, and medium-sized businesses, most merchants operate offline with little or no exposure to the formalized, digital economy. Moreover, Africa’s B2B payment sector represents a significant, yet largely untapped opportunity partly due to the complexity and larger transaction volumes associated with payments. Per the World Bank, the continent’s share of the global B2B payment opportunity stands at $1.5 trillion but many businesses still grapple with considerable payment delays and other issues, which negatively impact their cash flow and slow their growth. In recent years, digital payment solutions have eased many of these challenges but there remain several issues to be addressed in the journey of easing the flow of money between businesses in Africa.