SMMEs are the backbone of Africa’s commerce industry. Yet, 95% of entrepreneurs don’t have access to loans because they operate with personal cash, which is untraceable, costly to handle and unsafe.

According to a ThisDay Live report, using personal cash means that entrepreneurs don’t meet most of the criteria that comes with lending money at financial institutions. Meanwhile, having no access to formal payment infrastructures also hinders business growth as owners cannot gain insight into their track records.

To remedy this, the report recommends a payment strategy for entrepreneurs that leverages existing technology.

Two of the solutions currently being rolled out are aimed at assisting SMMEs across the continent – the MasterCard payment gateway service and mobile point-of-scale. These electronic payment systems use the internet to accept remittances on their website from cardholders around the world and physically in remote areas.

1 September 2015
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