A South African financial technology company is reshaping how businesses across Africa access payment card infrastructure. Scale, a Cape Town-founded fintech startup established in 2022 by Barbara Woollams and Miranda Naidoo, has announced a strategic partnership with global payments giant Mastercard to streamline card issuance across five African markets: Senegal, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
The partnership introduces a "one-integration" model that replaces the traditional — and often complex — requirement for businesses to coordinate separately with issuing banks, payment processing networks, and BIN (Bank Identification Number) sponsors in each target market. Under the new arrangement, companies can enter multiple African markets through a single connection, dramatically reducing the time, cost, and administrative burden associated with card programme deployment.
Co-founder Miranda Naidoo described the deal as a pivotal step in expanding financial access across the continent: "Businesses looking to launch card programmes in Africa face significant friction — regulatory complexity, multiple banking relationships, and fragmented infrastructure. This collaboration with Mastercard removes those hurdles by giving businesses one clear, efficient way to enter the market and scale."
The timing is significant. McKinsey projects that Africa's financial-services revenues could reach $230 billion annually by 2025, while modern card-issuing platforms are expected to issue approximately 35% of all payment cards globally by 2029. The partnership positions Scale — and by extension South Africa's broader fintech ecosystem — at the centre of a rapidly growing continental opportunity.
The announcement follows significant momentum in South Africa's broader technology funding landscape. Earlier this week, Cape Town-based edtech startup The Invigilator raised ZAR195 million in a funding round, demonstrating that international investors are increasingly looking to South Africa as a hub for scalable African-market technology businesses.
South Africa's fintech sector has matured considerably in recent years, with the country's deep banking expertise, sophisticated regulatory environment, and strong engineering talent pool making it a natural launchpad for pan-African financial technology ventures. The Scale-Mastercard partnership is the latest proof point of this positioning.
Sources: TechCabal / Mastercard Newsroom
