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Xente Launches Visa Business Cards in Partnership with Visa
Kampala, Uganda | LOUIS JADWONG | Godfrey Kabbyanga Baluku, State Minister for ICT and National Guidance, has said that by Xente attracting a partnership with Visa – the world’s leader in digital payments – Ugandan innovators have shown they can have an impact beyond their county.
Kabbyanga, who described Xente as the ICT Ministry’s “baby” because of the support given to the company, hailed them for taking the initiative to build on “good policies and funding Uganda government provides to innovators.” He hailed Xente for taking Uganda onto the global innovation space.
“It is good to see young people like those of Xente celebrating government. Young people in Uganda rarely celebrate government,” Kabbyanga said Wednesday in Kampala as Xente, a licensed Ugandan-founded financial technology platform that offers business payments solutions, announced and launched its partnership with Visa. Xente founders had minutes earlier acknowledged support given to them in their infancy, by the ICT Ministry.
Xente will issue virtual and physical Visa business cards that will enable them make payments to online and offline vendors, disburse money, and manage business expenses.
“As government, our role is to make sure we put in place good investment policies and infrastructure. You as citizens, your role is to harness those good policies and infrastructure to do business and grow,” Kabbyanga said at the launch at the Innovation Village.
“People think government will again come and tell you what to do. Once we put a tarmac road in place, we want you to reach Mbarara or Moroto very fast. Go and explore what is in Moroto and make money. We shall not put the road, then put you on lorries to go to Moroto,” he said figuratively.
He added that, “As the ICT ministry, we have put in pace very good polices, and even funds. It is up to you young people to utilize those polices, and funds. We are now also putting in place infrastructure in all the regions of the country.”
Kabbyanga recalled the pride Xente gave him, when the represented Uganda a the recent ICT Innovation Week, at the Dubai Expo.
He hailed the Ugandan-founded financial technology platform Xente for pushing for a cashless Africa, and in a smart way, joining big innovators like Safaricom.
Today marks a great day for us!
We are proud to announce that our latest product offering, the #XenteVisaCard has officially been launched.
The Xente Visa Card ( issued in both Virtual and physical form) is aimed at simplifying company finance. 👇See https://t.co/sNABn1xfRz pic.twitter.com/8Z4TlP1rGU
— Xente (@xentetech) September 21, 2022
In Uganda, NSSF are already using the Xente visa card.
Xente already has over 500 business customers including Jumia, TPO, Mkopa, Financial Sector Deepening and The Innovation Village.
Xente’s Founder confident
Allan Rwakatungu, Xente’s Founder and CEO thanked Visa and Ecobank for having confidence in them.
“Managing a business and its money has become more complex; teams are distributed and remote, payments to vendors are online and global, business is digital. Our solution will help finance and accounting teams manage this complexity in a one-stop platform. We will save companies a lot of money and countless person-hours.” Allan Rwakatungu, Xente’s Founder and CEO said.
With Xente’s partnership with Visa and Ecobank, businesses and their teams can make payments for online and offline purchases, anywhere in the world, and their finance and administration teams will be able to control and monitor this spend in real-time. The Xente Visa cards will provide versatility for business, and can be used to pay online vendors, petty cash, travel, per diem, meals, reimbursements, and disbursements.
Visa’s Vice President and General Manager for East Africa, Corine Mbiaketcha said, “We believe fintechs can unlock unique opportunities for us and our clients. Such collaborations at country level will empower business owners to digitize their payments and avoid inefficiencies associated with cash and paper-based systems, whilst taking control of and effectively managing their finances and business expenses. We are confident that with Xente, we will execute remarkably in the market.”
Ecobank Uganda’s Managing Director, Grace Muliisa, said: “As Ecobank, we know financial inclusion can ultimately contribute to economic development and this collaboration to issue the Xente Visa Cards is a further demonstration of Ecobank’s commitment to provide affordable, simple and innovative solutions for corporates across Africa which is a key strategic driver towards achieving this goal.”
This partnership is a testament to Visa and Xente’s commitment to providing affordable, simple, and innovative solutions for businesses across Africa.
The bank, established and licensed in 2019, is a subsidiary of the Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), the pan-African financial conglomerate headquartered in Lomé, Togo, which operates in 33 countries in Africa.
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