Aiming to establish the first Africa – Asia payment gateway, the Kenya-based Fintech solutions provider WAPI Pay has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Singapore’s FOMO pay to provide payment solutions between Africa and Asia.

The signing of the MoU between the two companies took place on the sidelines of the Afro-Asia FinTech Festival in Nairobi, where the partnership between the two companies is expected to open one billion US dollars of trade between Africa and Southeast Asia, according to statements out from FOMO Pay Co-Founder Zack Yang.

“These new payment rails will open up Kenyan and African market to the billion Asia market, facilitating women and youth employment via e-commerce, accelerate trade to close the deficit gaps and enhance further business relationships” says Wapi Capital Executive Director Paul Ndichu.

After the launch in Kenya, The two companies plan to expand their services to include other African countries such as Ghana, Zambia and Uganda later this month and to reach Nigeria in August as well. Payments and remittances are considered a major source of revenue for African countries, where both contribute effectively to the import and export receipts for these countries.

In 2018, Kenya alone traded for 3.5 billion US dollars with Asia, while the rest of Africa traded for the value of about 204.2 billion US dollars.

In 2015, Thailand’s main export markets in Africa were Egypt and South Africa, while Singapore’s main destinations were Liberia and South Africa, according to the international trade statistics of UN Comtrade.

Exports to African economies from Southeast Asia mainly consist of vehicles and vehicle spare parts, electronic equipment, refined petroleum, chemicals, rubber, rice, and metals.

Article tags
FOMO, WAPI, Singapore, Kenya, Afro-Asia FinTech Festival, Africa, Asia, Comtrade, e-payment, MoU