Interswitch has announced the launch of Quickteller Business targeting SMEs growth across Africa. The new platform, complementing Interswitch’s existing Quickteller platform, will broaden its payment management capabilities to businesses and merchants of all sizes, enabling them to access a wide range of integrated payment offerings, ranging from disbursements to value financing.
Adding Quickteller Business to the existing consumer platform creates a unique, differentiated offering with potential to accelerate value creation for large corporates, MSMEs and consumers. This will be done by leveraging Quickteller’s significant existing consumer base with over five million consumers already using Quickteller for a variety of retail payments in countries like Nigeria, Kenya and Gambia.
Launching Quickteller Business further expands Interswitch’s popular e-commerce solution reach to a broader audience of business users, helping to bring about growth in the expanding SME sector across Africa. Nigeria’s vast SME sector in the last five years has contributed an average of 48% to national GDP – according to a PwC survey 2020– and accounts for approximately 50% of industrial jobs and almost 90% of activities in the manufacturing sector.
Nigeria, with one of the fastest growing emerging middle classes in the world, represents a significant growth opportunity, although almost 40% of the population remain financially excluded. Increasing access to electronic payment systems for businesses will potentially increase the contribution of SME commercial activity in economies across the continent.
With the world still battling the coronavirus pandemic and the disruptions caused to businesses of all sizes around the world, Quickteller Business will help African business owners thrive through enabling access to effective and convenient digital payment and transaction solutions and technologies. The platform will offer as an incentive, three-month zero transaction fee for SMEs that sign up now, as part of its launch offer.
Akeem Lawal, Divisional Chief Executive Officer, Payments Processing at Interswitch Group speaking about the launch of Quickteller Business said: “The SME sector is a potential game-changer for economic growth and development in Africa. Interswitch has been at the forefront of digital payment innovation across the continent, enabling individuals, businesses, and governments to transact more efficiently over the last 17 years. The evolution of our payment and e-commerce offerings into Quickteller Business represents a significant long-term shift in both our business and merchant operating model. Through the integrated platform, SMEs, financial services agents and large corporates can better navigate the challenges around payments collections, allowing them to focus on their core business with their diverse transaction needs taken care of through the versatility of the new Quickteller Business offering."
Furthermore, he said: “The platform offers a comprehensive, integrated, payment solution that allows businesses to receive and track payments, generate e-invoices, as well as dispute management. It is an innovative and exciting payment solution that will benefit all business owners. Through this new offering, we are continuing our mission to make payments a seamless part of our everyday lives.”
About Interswitch:
Interswitch is a leading technology-driven company focused on the digitization of payments in Nigeria and other countries in Africa. Founded in 2002, Interswitch disrupted the traditional cash-based payments value chain in Nigeria by supporting the introduction of electronic payments processing and switching services. Interswitch’s vision is to make payments a seamless part of everyday life in Africa, and its mission is to create transaction solutions that enable individuals and communities to prosper across Africa.
