Pan-African fintech firm Carbon has entered a strategic five-year partnership with Visa to provide its customers with digital and physical Visa payment cards.
Carbon is planning to launch Visa debit cards in the third quarter of 2021. Around a year ago, the firm refocused its strategy from lending to becoming a digital bank offering a range of financial services, including savings and payments. By leveraging Visa's payment functionalities, Carbon will deploy an instant issuance process in three key markets: Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria.
Visa will provide financing to Carbon across their five-year agreement, with the funds used to provide implementation and marketing support to help drive further growth and adoption of Visa’s payment solutions across Carbon’s products.
With the arrival of debit cards, Carbon is building on its fast-growing user base of over 650,000 customers and a strong 2020 fiscal year which saw the company process ₦96.54 billion (US$241.35 million) in payments and ₦25.21 billion (US$63 million) in loan disbursements, eclipsing the previous year’s numbers despite the pandemic.
“Carbon is focused on delivering an unparalleled banking experience that is both safe and reliable across all touchpoints,” said Chijioke Dozie, CEO/Co-founder of Carbon. “We want more customers to enjoy some of our popular products like Carbon Zero through their Carbon card, and key to achieving this is our partnership with a leading payments and fintech-friendly company like Visa.”
“The rapid pace of technology innovation has driven a powerful shift in business and consumer expectations in finance,” said Kemi Okusanya, Vice President, Visa West Africa. “Whether it is changing the way people invest, manage money, receive loans, or send real-time payments to friends and family, Visa is a natural partner for fintechs including Carbon, providing them with new ways to reach their customers through Visa’s vast network and global scale.”
