(image source: https://www.cgap.org/)
This is the 2nd and final part of our series on understanding the digital payments space within the Fintech ecosystem in Africa. In our first article, we gave a comprehensive summary of what Fintech is and the commonly used terms in consumer digital payments. In this article, we dwell more on the terms used from business to business(B2B)
Digital Payments Terms used in B2B Transactions
Cellulant has until recently been a purely B2B operator playing the role of the silent backend integrator that makes it possible for banks to offer their services to their customers via mobile phones (mobile banking) or for business to accept and offer different digital payments to their customers.
Payment Service Provider (PSPs)/ Aggregator
Also referred to as aggregators, PSPs provide the crucial linkage between payers and payees in the digital payments ecosystem. PSPs enable merchants with the ability to accept electronic payments by connecting to banks, card networks and mobile money. A PSP receives electronic payment transactions for merchants, authenticates, processes them and also provides the merchant with the corresponding software if required and manages all the relationships with the different payees as a service to merchants.
Cellulant is one of Africa’s leading PSPs with a network that spans Africa-wide. As a PSP, Cellulant currently aggregates payments for well over 600 merchants globally linking them with 33 Mobile Money Operators and over 150 banks in Africa.
Payment gateway & Payment Integration Partner (PIP)
A payment gateway is a secure application that automates a transaction allowing merchants to accept forms of electronic payment by facilitating communication between the payer and the payee. A payment
A Payment Gateway (Image source: https://www.upwork.com/)
gateway acts as a mediator between the payer and the payee and is responsible for acquiring transaction authorization and data encryption. Cellulant is a payment integration partner whose payment gateway linking merchants with a network of mobile operators for mobile money payments, banks and card payment providers across various African markets.
Merchant/retailer
A merchant is an eCommerce term that refers to any business or online retailer that offers goods for sale or provides services in exchange for payment and one who accepts digital payment methods such as mobile money, debit or credit card or digital wallets as a source of payment.
Cellulant is a Fintech company that enables merchants to collect digital payments from their customers. To the customers, we a variety of payment options, we also make it an easy way for users to make payments to these merchants by managing the whole payment process and collecting payments on behalf of Merchants. We work with merchants at a continent and global level by providing them access to our payment gateway which gives multiple channels of accepting payments across Africa. We currently have over 600 merchants using our payment gateway service to collect payments from their customers across 33 markets in the continent.
Ebanking/electronic banking
Although ebanking is also similar to internet banking, it also refers to a form of banking in which funds are transferred electronically between financial institutions, rather than an exchange of cash, checks or other negotiable instruments.
White label solution
This is a product or service produced by one company (a fintech like Cellulant) that other companies (banks, utility service providers) rebrand and customize to their customers. Cellulant builds white-label financial services core infrastructure from which organisations or financial institutions can customize to their own customer-facing interface with corporate design and offer under their own name.
Payment Page
A Web-based payment page for simple and secure acceptance of various payment methods. End customers input their data into a mula check page powered by Cellulant to make online payments. The Payment Page enables merchants to accept credit cards and other national and international means of payment such as mobile money, cards, various African based banks and others in a fast, secure and compliant manner.
GSMA
The GSM Association (commonly referred to as ‘the GSMA’ or Global System for Mobile Communications, originally Groupe Spécial Mobile)- a trade body that represents the interests of mobile network operators worldwide. GSMA provides all stakeholders in the mobile fintech space with a holistic understanding of how the ecosystem and development of mobile services.
Adapting to today’s Mobile Consumer
Businesses are experiencing a shift in consumer preferences, buying behaviour, attitudes and lifestyle. Today’s consumer is connected and extremely mobile. How do you as a business adapt to this new consumer to whom convenience is expected in the way they shop, live and pay?
At Cellulant, we are the payments integration experts whom business have continued to rely on to figure out the different ways in which they can receive digital payments from customers wherever they may be without having to worry about the bolts and nuts. Businesses want to work with one payments partner who can link them to all possible payment methods with just one integration. We have done that for pan-African & global businesses.
If you are seeking a payments partner that will link you to and within Africa, then email us on [email protected] and let us become your ultimate payments aggregator.
