The programme seeks to support financial inclusion by providing a new and simple way for both consumers and businesses to carry out ecommerce transactions.
As per the information detailed in the press release, the virtual cards can be ordered quickly and be leveraged on all domestic and international websites alike, enabling consumers to access a new world of experiences in shopping and entertainment, amongst others.
What is more, the digital-first programme also helps start-ups and small businesses to easily make purchases online and manage travel expenses for their staff, free of the requirement for physical cards.
When commenting on the collaboration, illicocash representatives advised that the company seeks to digitise payments in the DRC and expedite the country’s shift away from cash. Per their statement, the new virtual card programme launched in partnership with Mastercard comes as an important addition to illicocash’s portfolio of digital services that address the needs of the unbanked and underbanked population.
More to this point, Mastercard officials added that the enterprise is committed to cooperating with local fintech companies to drive innovation in Africa’s payments sector and advance financial inclusion. The spokesperson further said that Mastercard’s partnership with illicocash comes as an integral part of its efforts to bring one billion people and 50 million micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) around the world into the digital economy by 2025.
Mastercard made public multiple developments with a focus on the Middle East and Africa, one of its most recent ones being the partnership with GHL in Malaysia to provide its ecommerce merchants with Mastercard Click to Pay for an improved online checkout experience.
In December 2023, it announced that together with card issuing platform MDP, Mastercard launched a Carbon Calculator in Egypt to let consumers know the environmental impact of their purchases. When talking about bettering the payment experience altogether, the developments to have taken place in the same month saw Mastercard launch contactless payment solutions in Nigeria, aiming to drive digital payment transformation in the region.
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