DPO Group, a payment service provider, has launched Africa’s first business to business payment card. DPO’s DumaCard, which is offered as a plastic card as well as in virtual form, is available initially to its 10,000 business customers in Kenya and Tanzania, with plans to roll the card out across the other 14 countries in which DPO Group operates.
The announcement follows DPO’s partnership with Mastercard allowing DPO Group, in collaboration with banks, to be able to issue physical and virtual cards. Last year, Mastercard also enabled DPO Group to act as a Pan-African switch via Mastercard Payments Gateway Services, (MPGS) meaning it can independently authorise transactions with no need for bank integration.
The DumaCard can be used by merchants as a single or multiple-use card and can be topped up regularly using mobile money so users do not have to have a bank account in order to be able to use the card. As a multi-currency card, it can be used across Africa as well as internationally, and in local currencies. It can also be customised to allow merchants to pay single or multiple recipients. The company expects the DumaCard to be particularly popular amongst its travel partners (tour operators & airlines) who will use the card to pay international airlines and global distribution systems.
The virtual card provides merchants with a 16-digit card number, expiry date and security code linked to their DPO payments system. This offers vendors in Africa and across the world a flexible and secure way to pay. DPO has developed highly sophisticated, end-to-end fraud prevention and risk management systems, and holds PCI DSS Level 1 Certification in all 16 markets in which it operates.
In future, individuals will also have access to the DumaCard to make and receive payments for everything from household bills to entertainment subscriptions. For the first time, consumers will be able to use the card for shopping on online stores such as Amazon and Netflix, bringing consumers in Africa access to e-commerce opportunities previously unavailable to them. The card will be showcased at East Africa’s largest tourism fair, the Karibu Kilifair held in Arusha, Tanzania.
Eran Feinstein, CEO, DPO Group commented, “This is an extremely exciting development particularly for businesses in Africa – the growth of which is critical to economic development. Our goal is to support the growth of businesses throughout Africa by allowing them to pay and be paid securely and effortlessly throughout the continent and internationally, ensuring that more organisations in Africa are financially included and have the same opportunity to transact online as elsewhere in the world. The DumaCard is another of our innovations enabling this.”