Africa’s digital economy is expanding at record speed, driven by a young, tech-savvy population and a high internet penetration rate. It’s no wonder that more and more businesses are looking to enter and scale in Africa. Yet, for many of these businesses, this comes with a familiar challenge – navigating a complex and fragmented payments space.
One of such businesses, FuturePay, needed a payment partner capable of bridging Africa’s diverse markets and making its operations truly borderless. Flutterwave emerged as that partner, and together, they are making it possible for businesses to access Africa as if it were one country.
About FuturePay
FuturePay is a platform serving a broad network of businesses, from virtual content and entertainment platforms to B2B and cross-border e-commerce businesses. It enables merchants to easily collect local payments and process payouts, including commissions and rewards, regardless of geography.
The Challenge: Managing Payments Across Multiple African Countries
FuturePay wants to enable its merchants to easily receive payments and process payouts across different African countries through a consolidated payment structure. However, Africa’s complicated payment landscape made this challenging. Some of the hurdles they’ve encountered include:
- Complex Payment Systems: Africa’s payment landscape is fragmented due to the variety of currencies, payment types, and systems across different countries. This makes it challenging to create a unified payment structure and offer diverse local payment options.
- Complicated Local Payouts: Disbursing payments to a diverse network of creators, influencers, and partners across Africa is complicated for entertainment platforms that use FuturePay. The different banking systems in each country turn simple transactions into logistical hurdles.
- B2B Payment Barriers: Processing B2B cross-border payments has also been difficult in Africa because businesses are unable to pay their international partners in their local currencies.
- Regulatory Diversity: Managing a separate setup in each African country is a time-consuming process for FuturePay, as every country has its own unique regulations, licensing requirements, and banking relationships.
For FuturePay, these factors have slowed merchant onboarding, limited scalability, and increased operational overhead costs.
Why FuturePay Chose Flutterwave
FuturePay needed a payment partner with a strong presence in Africa to help them overcome these challenges. This led them to Flutterwave. As a leader in African payments, with a wide operational reach, we were perfectly positioned to provide the solutions FuturePay needed to support their growth.
The Solution: Seamless Collections and Payouts, Powered by One API
Our operational reach spanning thirty-four (34) African countries ensures FuturePay can expand across Africa, and our robust payments infrastructure delivers a smooth single integration.
Our payment solutions now enable FuturePay to:
- Accept Local Payment Methods: From cards and mobile money to bank transfers, their customers can pay them in their preferred payment method.
- Pay Out Efficiently: They can now disburse commissions and rewards to creators, partners, and suppliers without managing multiple local banking relationships.
- Smooth B2B Payments: With Flutterwave, local African businesses can now pay their international partners using FuturePay in their local currencies through virtual bank accounts.
- Scale Confidently Across Africa: FuturePay can now expand efficiently by leveraging Flutterwave’s regulatory and banking partnerships across nineteen (19) African countries.
By serving both B2B and B2C needs through a single partner, FuturePay has gained a competitive edge. We boost this advantage by unifying payments across markets and simplifying Africa’s once-complex payment systems.
Ready to Scale in Africa? Partner with Flutterwave
Our robust payment infrastructure and extensive presence across Africa are designed to help you scale your business effectively. This will enable you to connect with millions of African consumers and businesses, and increase payment volumes.
We’re here to help you carve your own path in Africa. Are you ready? Contact our sales team today to get started!