Mastercard has grown its acceptance network across Africa by 45 percent in 2025, a surge the company describes as a major step toward bringing millions more consumers and small businesses into the continent’s fast-expanding digital economy.

The company said the push was backed by new market entries, fresh investment, product innovation and a bigger local presence.

Over the past two years Mastercard opened new offices in Ghana, Uganda and Mauritius and grew its employee base by almost 20 percent on the continent, strengthening local capabilities to co-create solutions for merchants and communities.

Mastercard highlighted a raft of technology upgrades meant to boost trust and convenience in both online and in-person payments.

These include tokenisation, digital identity features, virtual card enhancements, tap-on-phone solutions, the Mastercard Payment Gateway System for e-commerce, QR pay by link and QR-on-card offerings, and business payment control capabilities that enable virtual card issuance.

SMEs are central to Mastercard’s strategy. The company points to several country-level milestones that showcase the role of digital payments in small business growth.

In Morocco Mastercard co-developed the country’s first digital marketplace with BCP and the Ministry of Handicrafts, reaching 2.3 million artisans.

In Nigeria new QR-on-card solutions with UBA and WEMA are said to enable 1.8 million SMEs and gig workers to accept payments, while USD cards with Zenith Bank support more than 50,000 SMEs in cross-border trade.

Partnerships in Kenya, Mauritius and Tanzania with banks such as NMB, AfrAsia, Family Bank and KCB aim to empower more than 200,000 SMEs with digital tools.

Mastercard is also targeting financial inclusion in underserved and rural areas through Community Pass, a platform that digitises remote communities and links them to government, NGO and private sector services.

The company aims to register 15 million users in Africa on the platform within five years and says Community Pass has already reached 1.2 million smallholder farmers in Uganda.

Since May 2024, Mastercard has led the Mobilising Access to the Digital Economy (MADE) Alliance, which seeks to expand access to digital services for 100 million people and businesses by 2034.

In Kenya, MADE has supported affordable internet and digital training for 13 cooperatives that reach more than 10,000 farmers, deployed Farm Pass profiles for over 80,000 farmers, and built capacity for 250,000 farmers through cooperative partners.

Mastercard said the expansion supports a wider market forecast. The company is backing projections that Africa’s digital payments market could reach $1.5 trillion by 2030 and that the continent’s AI market may hit $16.5 billion by the same year.

“2025 has been a defining year for Mastercard in Africa. From acceptance growth to new digital capabilities, our focus has been on solutions that bring people and small businesses into the heart of the digital economy,” Mark Elliott, Division President, Africa, Mastercard, said.

He further explained that, “Our collaborations across Africa will continue to connect more people and businesses to the financial system, helping drive greater financial inclusion and economic opportunity, as we collectively look towards a $1.5 trillion digital economy by 2030.”

Folasade Femi-Lawal, Country Manager, West Africa, added, “West Africa is one of the continent’s fastest-growing digital corridors. Mastercard’s security-led innovations and acceptance expansion helped more SMEs and young entrepreneurs access modern payments.”

Industry watchers say Mastercard’s moves mirror a broader shift: mobile and digital payment infrastructure is becoming a prerequisite for cross-border trade, formalisation of small businesses, and expansion of credit channels.

For Mastercard the near-term challenge is to translate network growth and new products into sustained usage by merchants and consumers, while keeping costs, security and local partnerships front and centre.

Mastercard says it will continue market rollouts in 2026, scale SME programmes and invest in local infrastructure and partnerships to support a more secure and connected African digital economy.