MasterCard predicts more youths in Sub-Saharan Africa to own businesses

Raghav Prasad, MasterCard division President for Sub-Saharan Africa

NAIROBI, KENYA: Newly appointed MasterCard president for Sub-Saharan Africa has predicted a booming card business due to aggressive youth and technology advancements in the region.

Raghav Prasad, the division President for Sub-Saharan Africa said the demographic dividend of a large young and tech-savvy population will lead to many of these youth starting up businesses of their own, and becoming job creators.

"Our work in supporting the MSME sector is critical to our role in Africa, and solutions such as Masterpass QR are turning the tide on cash dependency as well as helping millions of merchants to go digital for the first time,’ he said.

“This is more attractive for businesses and consumers alike - and we see youth being a key driver of the adoption of new technologies now, and in the future," he added.

Mobile continues to act as a critical conduit of growth in Sub-Saharan Africa, currently accounting for nearly a tenth of the global mobile subscriber base and is predicted to grow faster than any other region globally over the next five years.

Additionally, the World Bank estimates that over 64 million adults in the region already have a mobile money account - making it the most easily accessible technology for those currently excluded from the formal financial services sector.

The new president brings his extensive 30-year global financial services and payments industry experience to further Mastercard's goal of financially including 100 million people by 2020 - an objective that can only be achieved by working with partners across the public and private sectors and by introducing market-relevant digital payment solutions such as Masterpass QR, Mastercard Payment Gateway Services along with its core Debit, Credit, Prepaid and Commercial solutions.

With a proven track record as a leader, Prasad has a deep understanding of the payments sector, and brings unique insights into the region honed while running his own consulting practice focusing on the Middle East and Africa as well as working for global players like Citibank and RBS.