If your current location is somewhere in Africa at the time of reading this article, the next purchase you make today will likely be paid for in cash.

Now I am no soothsayer but judging from what statistics show, there is a high chance that I am right.

 

Key takeaways:

  1. Cash is still king in Africa. In 2019, the continent’s non-cash transactions amounted to only $17 billion in 2019, compared to $216 billion in Europe or $244 billion in Asia.

  2. However, digital transactions are rising—five out of the seven unicorns on the continent are payment companies. 

  3. Still, regulators have a role to play in creating enough incentives in their licensing standards to attract potential startup founders to want to set up local operations and build viable payment solutions.

​​​​​​

In 2021, just about half of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) used an electronic form of payment (i.e. a debit/credit card or a mobile wallet like Apple Pay). In contrast, that figure is as high as 96% for OECD member countries, according to the World Bank’s Global Findex Database. 

Between 2014-2019, non-cash transactions worldwide grew by 13%, but when we look at how different regions contributed to that growth, we see that Africa is barely pulling its weight.