Youth will drive the future of digital payment solutions in Africa

By Clinton Leask, Head of Digital at Pay@

With 70% of sub-Saharan Africa under the age of 30¹ and the youngest population in the world, Africa is home to one of the most ambitious, highly motivated and vibrant youth populations in the world. Millennials, the largest living generation of today, together with Gen Z, are set to make up 72% of the world’s workforce by 2029². Their combined purchasing power and influence will shape the world of commerce in the years to come.

The youth of today will probably never understand the challenges many faced with the limited methods of transferring money. From mobile money to e-wallets, digital payments have evolved and continues to do so.

Today, we are seeing payments being processed via QR codes, and have become increasingly popular³ in the past year. Banks are now finally incorporating QR code scanners within their apps that are able to scan QR codes from Pay@, Zapper, SnapScan or Masterpass wherever they are presented.

Across Africa, the evolution of digital payments has driven the record for our post-COVID-19 pandemic economy. With the goal of developing Africa’s payment sector and in turn spurring economic development, businesses need to consider how the evolution of digital payment solutions can support job creation, promote efficiency in service delivery, and facilitate financial inclusion for our youth population.⁴

From doorstep deliveries to online shopping sprees, consumers have come to expect personalisation, convenience and flexibility from their retail experience. These factors will shape the development of e-commerce in 2022 and beyond.⁵

According to a report prepared for the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion by the OECD, it is evident that young people in sub-Saharan Africa and across the globe often lack strong relationships with the formal banking sector and are more likely to consider non-traditional financial service providers. With this generation never knowing a world without mobile, online and app-based services, it’s no surprise that they are driving overall fintech adoption globally.

Businesses can no longer ignore the role that South Africa’s youth plays in shaping the future of our digital payments sector and the positive impact that these trends have on the future of South Africa’s economic development.

Through their online purchasing behaviour using the internet, multiples apps and social media, the youth in South Africa are playing an active role in society and the digital economy.

Fintechs across the continent have been playing a key role in bringing financial services to the underserved, just like M-Pesa did with the mobile phone-based money transfer service, payments and micro-financing service. Now, with their agility and responsiveness to market needs and the acceleration of technology, fintechs are able to offer some of the most innovative and customer-first payment offerings.

Another financial technology that the youth population is increasingly opting for is the convenience of using contactless payment solutions.

People are becoming comfortable with tapping their cards, phones and smartwatches. Throughout 2022, banks have launched apps for merchants which will enable them to turn their phones or tablets into point-of-sale (POS) tools, negating the need for pin-pad devices. By making payments even more convenient, this technology will replace POS machines used by smaller to medium businesses, much like the map apps on cell phones took the place of GPS navigation devices.

By specialising in innovative solutions for mobile app payments, wallet top-ups and SME payments across Southern Africa, Pay@ is confident that digital innovations in the current payment space will continue to emerge, providing consumers with more ways to reach their clients and increase the convenience and efficiency of the front-end payment process.

As your trusted payment partner, Pay@ is constantly introducing innovative ways to make your daily bill payments. Pay@, with a growing retail and online network, offers a fully integrated range of digital payment solutions and has recently partnered with Nedbank to ensure that their customers now have more access to convenient and secure digital payment channels using the Nedbank Money App. Through partnerships such as these, Pay@ remains innovation-led and customer-focused, by modernising payment solutions across South Africa.

About Pay@

Established in 2007, Pay@ is one of Southern Africa’s leading payment solutions providers and is trusted by prominent South African organisations to optimise their billing and payment processes. Pay@ is in the business of providing payments experiences, offering a capability that allows a client to accept payment from their customers through relevant, simple, secure and reliable payment journeys. The company offers consumers a growing variety of secure, innovative and convenient bill presentment and payment platforms. Its robust system ensures highly efficient processing, with unallocated payments being eliminated and proven transaction success rates of more than 99.996%.

For more information about Pay@, go to https://payat.co.za.