Mastercard expects artificial intelligence and agentic commerce to shape the next phase of Africa’s digital transformation.(Image credit: Mastercard)
Mastercard has significantly strengthened Africa’s digital payments landscape, recording a 45 per cent expansion of its acceptance network across the continent in 2025. This milestone marks a major acceleration in digital commerce adoption, bringing millions of consumers and small businesses into Africa’s rapidly evolving digital economy.
The growth reflects a year of strong momentum driven by new market entries, increased investment, product innovation and deeper local engagement. Collectively, these efforts reinforce Mastercard’s ambition to help power Africa’s projected US$1.5 trillion digital payments opportunity by 2030—progress that would traditionally have taken several years to achieve.
Over the past two years, Mastercard has expanded its physical footprint by opening new offices in Ghana, Uganda and Mauritius, with additional African markets planned for 2026. At the same time, the company increased its workforce across the continent by nearly 20 per cent, strengthening local expertise and enabling the co-creation of solutions designed specifically for African consumers, merchants and institutions.
Alongside geographic expansion, Mastercard has invested heavily in critical digital infrastructure. Enhancements to tokenisation, digital identity solutions and virtual card capabilities have improved payment security, trust and convenience across both online and in-person transactions—key pillars for scaling inclusive digital economies.
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), widely regarded as the backbone of Africa’s economies, remain central to Mastercard’s strategy. With consumer spending forecast to rise in markets such as Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria and South Africa, demand for secure, efficient digital payment tools has surged. These tools enable SMEs to accept payments seamlessly, manage cash flow, access credit, and build resilience in an increasingly digital-first business environment.
Mastercard’s SME-focused portfolio includes tap-on-phone technology, the Mastercard Payment Gateway System for e-commerce, QR-based payment solutions, point-of-sale systems and business payment control tools that support virtual card issuance. In the past 18 months alone, the company has launched 15 new SME programmes through pan-African collaborations involving governments, telecom operators and FMCGs.
Beyond commerce, Mastercard continues to drive financial inclusion through initiatives such as Community Pass, a social enterprise platform connecting underserved and rural communities to essential services. The company aims to register 15 million African users on the platform within five years, building on its reach of 1.2 million smallholder farmers in Uganda.
Through the Mobilising Access to the Digital Economy (MADE) Alliance, Mastercard and its partners are also working to extend digital access to 100 million people and businesses by 2034, with early progress already underway in Kenya’s agricultural sector.
Mark Elliott, Division President, Africa, Mastercard, said, “2025 has been a defining year for Mastercard in Africa. From acceptance growth to new digital capabilities, our focus has been on solutions that bring people and small businesses into the heart of the digital economy. Our collaborations across Africa will continue to connect more people and businesses to the financial system, helping drive greater financial inclusion and economic opportunity, as we collectively look towards a US$1.5 trillion digital economy by 2030.”
Looking ahead, Mastercard expects artificial intelligence and agentic commerce to shape the next phase of Africa’s digital transformation, with the continent’s AI market forecast to reach US$16.5bn by 2030.
