PayU to Leverage on Kenya’s Growth

• PayU to Leverage on Kenya’s Growth

PayU is a leading financial services provider with operations across Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa.

The company has now perfected plans to leverage on Kenya’s economic growth for expansion in the East African region.

Kenya is one of the fastest growing economies in Africa and the largest economy in East Africa, hence, a perfect entry point for PayU.

PayU, which acquired an operating licence in Kenya in February 2019, has now launched payment service for the region.

According to Corrie Bakker, Head of Strategy & Business Development of PayU Africa, “Kenya is a powerful and growing market, ideally suited for investment and expansion for high-velocity merchants.” The approval of PayU’s operations in Kenya by the Central Bank of Kenya confirmed its position and local approval.

“With our global, long-standing reputation, and local presence in the Kenyan market, we provide organizations with a doorway into East Africa that’s built on the foundations of long-standing relationships and local expertise.” He added.

This new development will enhance processing speed, stability, security, improve customer support and provide organizations with immediate and effective local liaison.

“Working with us in Kenya not only opens the door to Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda – countries that have shown real GDP growth – but provides our partners with the first line of local defense with people on the ground,” says Bakker. “We provide a new set of credentials and a tokenized anti-fraud offering with a re-occurring option that assures merchants of strong security and peace of mind.”

With more than 80 percent of Kenya’s payments taken place through the mobile wallets, and 20 percent make use of card payment. PayU offers a single and unified transaction point that connects these payment options into a unified structured and accessible for all merchant and customers.

In an effort to ensure localization and payment method expansion, PayU partnered with Cellulant whose vision is to develop and provide a one-stop mobile payments platform for connecting businesses and governments in Africa.

“We have one integrated transaction point that recognizes what customers want,” said Bakker. “Ensuring that customers can access their funds using known, locally respected payment solutions, mitigates challenges around customer trust and accessibility. This is further enhanced by our global presence, our reputation as a reliable, stable and secure payment platform, and our ongoing acquisitions into products and services that enhance our offering.” He further added.

With the recent acquisition of Wimbo at $70M, it will enable PayU to build a robust digital payment ecosystem. “Each of these acquisitions and investments allows us to future-proof PayU and the services it can offer to merchant and customer alike,” concludes Bakker.