Market-leading prepaid card processor now part of MFS Africa
London – 7 June 2022: In a rare acquisition of a US tech company by an African tech company, MFS Africa, Africa’s largest digital payments network, today announces that it has reached an agreement to buy Global Technology Partners (GTP).
Based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, GTP is the number one processor for prepaid cards in Africa, with over 80 banks – including UBA, Ecobank, BIA, Stanbic, Coris, NSIA and Zenith Bank – using its platform. GTP’s client base covers 34 countries and is fully connected to the Visa, Mastercard, GIM, GIMAC and Verve networks for which it provides the processing. This acquisition enables MFS Africa to further deepen its offering to Africa’s gig economy, the business travel market and the millions who eagerly want to participate in the global digital commerce through card credentials linked to mobile money wallets – rather than bank accounts – for seamless and secure online purchases. It also expands MFS Africa’s bank and fintech base and provides tokenisation for the mobile money world in connecting with the traditional card scheme ecosystems such as Visa and Mastercard.
Founder and CEO of MFS Africa, Dare Okoudjou, said: “This is a momentous milestone for us and Africa’s tech ecosystem – on many levels. It’s something of a first for an African tech company to acquire a US tech company of GTP’s size and stature, and we’re delighted to be welcoming the GTP team to the MFS Africa family. Their expertise enables us to extend our value proposition of last-mile connectivity to African banks and to accelerate our offering of card connectivity to mobile money users and other fintech companies operating across the continent. The combined operations have immense and exciting growth potential, and with our extended portfolio, we are now truly an omnichannel payments company.”
Robert Merrick, Founder and Chairman of Global Technology Partners, commented: “GTP’s established position as Africa’s number one prepaid card processor has been built on its unique, flexible platform that actively helps prepaid cards to succeed. We have become the leader of prepaid cards in Africa because of our people, who have genuine in-depth knowledge not only of the prepaid card business but also of the realities that African card users face. We connect the right solution to the right markets with the right products. MFS Africa is an ideal home for GTP, and we are focused on adding new features and functionalities to our platform, signing up new clients, expanding into new countries, driving growth and making a significant contribution to growing MFS Africa’s business and its network of networks.”
Following GTP’s acquisition, MFS Africa plans to further invest in GTP’s current card programmes with banks and bring to these all the innovation and possibilities offered by the MFS Africa HUB – including seamless interoperability with Mobile Money. The company will also leverage GTP’s stack to fast-track card programmes for MNOs and FinTechs across Africa. Lastly, MFS Africa intends to leverage GTP’s presence in the USA to expand its commercial activities in North America.
Media Contact
Name: Nik Jeffries
Title: Senior Account Manager
Email: nik.jeffries@brandcommsgroup.com
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7638 6856
About MFS Africa
At MFS Africa, we believe that making a payment should be as easy as making a phone call. We believe that access is the currency with which Africans can overcome barriers and injustice and render borders insignificant. We give our partners access to a borderless world of opportunities, connecting enterprises, mobile money operators, money transfer operators, banks, non-bank financial institutions, and online and offline merchants to each other and to more than 410 million mobile money wallets in over 35 African countries. We enable domestic and cross-border disbursements and collections across our network of networks and work closely with all our partners across the globe to make borders matter less. Watch our video manifesto here.
About GTP
Global Technology Partners (GTP) is the leading Prepaid Processor in Africa, with over 80 banks in 34 countries across the continent using our platform. Our industry knowledge and experience are focused exclusively on prepaid processing. We have spent over 15 years developing a state-of-the-art prepaid processing system that provides maximum security, a shorter implementation process, and an intuitive interface for the bank and its cardholders. Our approach is very hands-on; we work with our partners from project initiation to launch and provide industry best practices to ensure their Prepaid programs are successful. Here is a link to our corporate video English / French