Changing the Face of Payments in Africa - The Flutterwave Intervention

Flutterwave Logo

“The complete payment solution to thrive in the global economy.” - www.flutterwave.com

The statement quoted above both welcomes and introduces you to the Flutterwave website. Apart from it being a short and direct payoff line, it is a declaration that is loaded with promise and possibilities. Imagine being able to send to and receive from, any kind of payment, anywhere around the world. This is the possibility that the founders of Flutterwave have conceived and seek to deliver via an integrated platform. In 2017, CNN published a piece on Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, co-founder of Flutterwave where he speaks on how they intend to change payments in Africa. In 2018, Iyinoluwa announced his retirement as CEO of the company. According to a statement on the company’s website; “Our payments solution makes it easier with secure and reliable tools...you’ll experience 24/7 customer service, reasonable fees and the technology to achieve zero failed transactions.” 

The African Conundrum

There is no doubt that most African economies urgently require a mix of policy, socio-economic and technology-led initiatives to improve the standards of living of the majority of citizens of these nations. What is in doubt is how many leaders of these African nations truly appreciate and understand what needs to be done. To start with, initiatives that provide Pan-African payment platforms such as what Flutterwave aims to achieve should be encouraged and allowed to thrive under a balance of regulation and an environment that lends itself to ease of doing business, in quantifiable monetary terms and not just on paper. 

Recently, 54 African nations signed up to the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement also known as the AFCTA which essentially creates a single continental market for goods and services, while also allowing free movement of businesses, people and investments. Economists and economic policy stakeholders will continue to have divergent conversations and views on the workability and applications of this agreement, but simple, secure and seamless online payment solutions like Rave by Flutterwave will definitely contribute to the success of this policy. 

Flutterwave clients, for example, can hope to get customised online payment gateways on their websites; perform safe online transactions; enjoy smooth end-to-end processing of payments of their international card brands such as mastercard and visa payments. All of these services are embodied in the company’s two service offerings: Rave and Barter. While Rave is a service that enables merchants to accept global payments from cards, individual bank accounts, QR Codes, Mobile Money and USSD transactions, Barter helps users to manage their finances such that paying for utilities, renewing cable and call credit subscription can be done via the barter app and on mobile phones. 

Digital Payment in Nigeria isn’t a ‘one-horse race’

It is important to point out at this point that Flutterwave is not the only digital payments solution provider serving Nigeria and beyond. Even though high visibility players such as Flutterwave, Interswitch, Systemspecs, Paystack, and eTranzact enjoy a level of top of mind awareness as far as payments are concerned, a cursory count of thriving payment platforms shows that there are no less than 20 service providers and Fintech players actively competing with digital payments space. The Fintech Association of Nigeria lists close to a hundred members including banks, gateway providers and blue chips. These platforms all have their unique product offerings and customer targeting strategies. For example, Paystack is pushing for collections within the online betting space, Remita by Systemspecs has a strong focus on government MDA collections and Interswitch is providing an all-inclusive payment platform with Quickteller.

Pros and Cons of Flutterwave Solutions

On the implementation side, Flutterwave products score points for having some critical pros on its side. These include: 

• Multiple currency transactions can be carried out on the Rave platform and users are allowed to open dollar cards for payments across several international services and content providers such as Facebook, Amazon, and Spotify on the Barter app. 

• The Zero setup fee policy for integration is a great incentive for SMEs and startups

• Developer collaboration is encouraged with a dedicated developer menu accessible on www.flutterwave.com and this is apart from the easy to use developer APIs.

• Users get the option of either direct debit card or account transfer transactions 

• Apart from its Head Office in San Francisco and Lagos, Nigeria office, Flutterwave has also made its presence felt in Uganda, Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa.

On the flip side, some of the cons identified include: 

• Absence of Point of Sales (PoS) machines considering that a lot of merchants and SMEs also distribute or sell their products offline.

• Sometimes inexplicable Issuer, Channel or Network-based transaction failures.

• Bugs from system upgrades that may require new update releases to fix.

• Intrusive personal data collection and attendant concerns for data breaches and theft.

Digital Payments Intervention in African Economic Growth 

In a speech on how digital payments hold the key to the prosperity of African SMEs, Aida Diarra, the Group Country Manager for Visa Sub-Saharan Africa, stated that “Electronic payments have an important role to play for entrepreneurs by improving the speed and reducing the costs associated with transacting with employees, suppliers, and customers.” Payment platforms such as Flutterwave and the solutions they provide are providing opportunities for entrepreneurs to expand their client base while also gaining access to data that can be used to predict consumer behaviours, spending patterns and emerging trends in financial technology.