In a bid to deliver digital payments to small businesses via the Facebook Messenger platform, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated has announced a strategic partnership with Facebook and MasterCard. With this partnership, micro-merchants will be able to receive instant payments using the Quick Response (QR) technology.
This Messenger experience set to be launched in Nigeria, where MasterCard will pilot a new Masterpass QR will help business owners move beyond cash transactions to accepting QR payments.
According to research done by The Fletcher School and Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, of the $301 billion of funds flows from consumers to businesses in Nigeria, 98 percent is still based on cash.
Launched globally in 2016, Masterpass QR provides people with any type of mobile phone the ability to safely accept and make in-person purchases without cash or a plastic card.
It provides greater choice in payments and complements Mastercard’s investment in contact-less payments to provide merchants of all sizes from international chains to individual shop owners and street vendors a fast, secure and inexpensive way to accept payments.
Jorn Lambert, Executive Vice President, Digital Channels and Regions, Mastercard also revealed why QR offers business owners a more reliable payment system
In his words
“Masterpass QR opens up new commerce channels for these merchants and enables them to create AUDIT-ABLE transaction records. These advances open doors to other financial tools and products such as loans to drive added business growth.”
Kahina Van Dyke, director of Payments and Financial Services Partnerships at Facebook while expressing delight with the partnership said
“We are pleased that Mastercard is developing a service on the Messenger Platform to help small merchants use messaging to manage their business and connect with their customers.”
The QR codes are barcodes that can be captured with a smartphone camera Scan the QR code with a mobile phone and you’ll be taken to the website the QR code specifies. They are also machine-readable labels which computers can understand more easily than they can understand text.