Since the turn of the 21st century, the continent of Africa has enjoyed some spectacular economic growth rateswith a great deal of investment coming from the likes of China that have helped to pioneer adventurous new schemes.
But it’s the internet in particular that has heralded the African renaissance with new opportunities for entrepreneurs and gaming sites that have benefited greatly from the exciting electronic payment systems.
Despite the relative slow uptake for Africans to have their own bank accounts, it’s believed that nearly 90% of South Africans and Nigerians use a mobile phone, and this number is closely followed by other nations.
It’s this impressive trend that has helped Africa becoming one of the epicentres for the electronic payment revolution. This sees people moving away from cash transactions, and instead using apps on their mobile devices to make payments in a quick, efficient and safe manner.
The rise of electronic payments is hoping to do away with many of the negative aspects of cash that is widely seen as being dirty, inefficient and prone to be used in criminal activities.
However, South Africa in particular is being hailed as a pioneering centre of electronic payments with the likes of Snapscan being swiftly taken up by over 25,000 retailers to facilitate an easy cash-less transaction.
The online domain has also felt the benefit of the online payment system with online gaming sites such as South Africa’s Springbok Casino allowing gamers to play their massive range of games of slots, roulette and blackjack through digital payment companies such as Skill, Neteller and Ecopayz.
The fact that there has been such a rapid growth in mobile payment companies has also helped bring in many foreign financial innovators into the African marketplace with brands such as EMP and Visa keen to implement their digital payment systems.
However, it’s not just individuals and commercial companies that look to benefit from the online payment revolution, as it’s thought that governments will enjoy greater tax revenues as a result of people’s finances becoming formalised and more easily regulated.
Furthermore, by having an individual’s finances on a specially-encrypted device, it makes it much easier to track where money was spent and by whom, therefore limiting the negative effects of corruption that have done so much the curtail economic growth across the continent.
So from the implementation of payment software at online gaming sites, to the ability for individuals to easily monitor their finances, it looks like the electronic payment revolution is helping Africa enjoy a bright new economic future.