OPINION: Digital payments are closing the gender inclusion gap in Africa’s commerce

This year’s International Women’s Day (IWD) was a buzz as women across the world celebrated under the theme ‘Give to Gain’. One key insight that echoed across discussions, rooms and plenary sessions was the call for stakeholders across different sectors to invest in women to gain in the long run. This is in support of the ongoing rallying call to close the gender gap, with voices from different events indicating that it has gone on for far too long. 

As a leader in the payments sector, my reflection is on building payment systems that work for women and women-led businesses. Why? When you look at our economic system, women are the majority participants, especially in informal economies, standing at 74 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa, further emphasising the need for payment systems that reflect their realities. 

Currently, women who operate small businesses, manage households, and participate heavily in informal economies have a distinct financial behaviour that looks different from the patterns designers traditionally build for.

Traditional financial products have often been built for larger merchants with predictable revenue streams. In contrast, many women traders operate on thin margins, making multiple small transactions throughout the day and at times over an irregular period as well. Therefore, payment systems that impose high transaction fees, minimum thresholds, or involve complex onboarding processes can unintentionally exclude those who need them most. This then begs the question, what can be done to fix this?

Perhaps the most overlooked factor in building inclusive payment systems is who is involved in designing them. There needs to be more representation in fintech leadership, engineering, and product design to ensure inclusive insights into user needs.

Women bring first-hand experiences that can shape more inclusive financial products, whether that means designing interfaces that accommodate lower literacy levels, creating payment tools that support informal group savings, or ensuring safety features that protect users from financial fraud and abuse.

Once women have been invited into the design room, the next step is to develop products that are accommodating and inclusive. Many women run businesses that still rely heavily on cash-based transactions and localised customer networks. While these businesses are resilient, they often face limitations in scaling beyond immediate communities.

However, digital payment acceptance changes this dynamic. When women entrepreneurs can accept seamless online or cross-border payments, they gain the ability to reach customers far beyond their physical locations. This can start small and expand cross border. As an example, my rice vendor is in Mwea and yet she delivers aromatic rice to me in Nairobi. Eventually, she can scale to distribute in neighbouring countries through an affordable e-commerce solution. 

Another persistent challenge facing women entrepreneurs is access to finance. Many businesses struggle to obtain investment because they lack formal financial records or traditional collateral.

Digital payments can help address this gap by creating reliable transaction histories and records. Every digital payment accepted contributes to a verifiable record of business activity, helping enterprises demonstrate revenue patterns and financial stability.

Over time, these digital footprints strengthen credit scores and provide financial institutions with the data needed to assess risk more accurately and fairly. In this way, payment acceptance becomes a gateway to broader financial inclusion, enabling women entrepreneurs to transition from informal operations into more structured and scalable enterprises.

Payment Service Providers like Network International (Network) have taken this a step further by offering merchants Easy Credit solutions that enable merchants access to business funding, including women.

Additionally, security also plays a crucial role in encouraging women to adopt digital payment systems. Concerns about fraud, privacy, or misuse of personal information can discourage adoption, particularly for women who already face higher risks in informal business environments.

Modern payment solutions are addressing these concerns through stronger compliance frameworks, data protection, and secure transaction technologies. For example, QR-based payment systems allow customers to complete transactions without sharing sensitive personal details such as phone numbers.

For millions of women entrepreneurs, digital payments represent a pathway to growth, formalisation, and financial security. Payment platforms that enable seamless acceptance, create verifiable financial records, and prioritise safety can play a transformative role in closing long-standing economic gaps.

When payment systems are built with these realities in mind, they unlock opportunities that help women-owned businesses scale, participate in global markets, and contribute more fully to economic growth.

The long-term result? Promoting women’s economic justice and rights in the economy and closing gender gaps are key to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. A report by the World Bank further shows that if gender gaps were closed in digitization, employment and entrepreneurship, we could increase the global GDP by 20%, which should a be a strong motivation to do more. 

The writer is the Regional Managing Director – East Africa, Acquiring at Network International