Interswitch Group, Africa’s leading technology-driven company focused on the digitization of payments in Africa, has announced the launch of Quickteller Business, a new comprehensive corporate solution focused on empowering businesses of all sizes, facilitate payments and manage transactions from anywhere in the world – through one, simple integrated platform.

Complementing Interswitch’s existing Quickteller platform, Quickteller Business will broaden its payment management capabilities to businesses and merchants of all sizes, allowing them to access a wide range of integrated payment offerings, ranging from disbursements to value financing.

The addition of 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 leveraging Quickteller’s significant existing consumer base with over five million consumers already using Quickteller for a variety of retail payments in countries such as Nigeria, Kenya and Gambia.

The launch of Quickteller Business further expands the reach of Interswitch’s popular e-commerce solution to a broader audience of business users, helping to facilitate growth in the burgeoning SME sector across Africa. In the last five years, Nigeria’s vast SME sector has contributed an average of 48% to national GDP – according to a PwC survey  – and accounts for about 50% of industrial jobs and almost 90% of activities in the manufacturing sector.

With one of the fastest growing emerging middle classes in the world, Nigeria represents a significant growth opportunity, however almost 40% of the population remain financially excluded. Furthering access to electronic payment systems for businesses has the potential to increase the contribution of SME commercial activity in economies across the continent.

According to a survey conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics and the SME Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) in 2018, over 41.5 million MSME businesses operate in Nigeria. 55% of this 41.5 million are retail and wholesalers which make up the market we are targeting.

With the COVID-19 pandemic causing disruptions to businesses of all sizes around the world, the new platform will help African business owners prosper, by enabling access to effective and convenient digital payment and transaction solutions and technologies. Quickteller Business will also offer a three-month zero transaction fee incentive for SMEs that sign up now, as part of its launch offer.

On the launch of the new platform, Akeem Lawal, Divisional Chief Executive Officer, Payments Processing at Interswitch Group 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.

“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,” he said.