Nairobi has entrenched its position as a top destination for technological advancement in the financial sector. This follows the establishment of the first financial innovation Visa studio in Nairobi by top global payment solutions firm, Visa.
This studio will serve the African continent’s sub-Saharan region. It is part of a network of global innovation centres operated by Visa since 2016 in locations including San Francisco, Miami, London, Dubai and Singapore.
Interestingly, the new Visa studio facility is designed to replicate the success of Visa’s flagship innovation center, One Market in San Francisco, and provide Visa’s partners with access to tools that strengthen their capabilities in developing new solutions
According to Central Bank of Kenya (CBK)Â Governor Patrick Njoroge, the opening of this office adds to a series of collaborations that the CBK has been having with Visa.
Njoroge says that the CBK and Visa have been working to raise the quality of Kenya’s cyber security in conjunction with local banks and payment service providers to strengthen the digital finance infrastructure.
“As innovators, we cannot ignore the negative effects that come with it… We are human beings first, and in every innovation, we must take care of human beings. The National Payment Strategy for 2022 – 2025 lays out our vision for payment systems,” Dr. Njoroge adds.
According to Njoroge, the new Visa studio will boost the country’s efforts in advancement of a less cash environment.
“We cannot talk about cashless… Because there will always be cash. The correct term should be the less cash environment. And we are doing more to innovate towards this convenience,” he said.
Apart from the collaboration between CBK and Visa, several Sub-Saharan Africa companies have already leveraged on Visa’s innovation centre capabilities.
These include Safaricom which runs a solution that enables 24 million M-PESA users to transact at Visa merchant locations, and 150,000 M-PESA merchants to accept Visa card payments.
According to Sitoyo Lopokoiyit, the chief executive officer for M-PESA Africa and the chief financial services officer at Safaricom PLC, the inventions coming out of partnerships with Visa show the need for technological collaborations in Africa.