Mastercard and Flowcart have entered a strategic collaboration aimed at improving digital commerce and payment acceptance across Africa. The solution will allow consumers to complete purchases within chat-based interactions while giving merchants a simpler way to convert online engagement into sales.
The initiative will launch first in Kenya before expanding across East Africa and into other high-growth markets, including South Africa, Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire. It will also support wider scaling across pan-African markets.
By allowing customers to discover products, place orders and make payments within the same conversation, the partnership removes the need to redirect consumers to external websites or applications. This is expected to make purchasing easier while helping merchants improve payment completion rates, increase transaction frequency and encourage repeat purchases.
Making Social Commerce More Accessible
The collaboration combines Flowcart’s AI-powered commerce orchestration platform with Mastercard’s global payment network. It reflects the growing shift towards embedded and conversational commerce, where payments become part of the customer interaction rather than a separate step.
The opportunity is particularly significant in Kenya, where social platforms are playing a growing role in online shopping. WhatsApp now handles more than 20% of online shopping orders in the country, surpassing traditional e-commerce websites as conversational commerce gains ground.
Shehryar Ali, senior vice president and country manager for East Africa and Indian Ocean Islands at Mastercard, said the partnership will help businesses respond to this change.
“Social commerce is redefining how consumers discover and engage with brands,” Ali said. He added that the collaboration will create new growth opportunities for merchants and expand digital payment acceptance in one of Africa’s fastest-growing digital economies.
The solution is also designed to support Kenya’s growing creator economy. Social sellers will be able to monetise their audiences directly through the platforms where they already interact with customers.
The complete “chat-to-pay” journey will allow customers to move from product discovery to ordering and payment without leaving the conversation. Payments can be completed through embedded links, QR codes or native checkout flows powered by Mastercard Gateway and its network of acquiring partners.
Supporting SMEs and Informal Commerce
As part of Mastercard’s Merchant Cloud portfolio, Mastercard Gateway gives merchants a single connection for payment acceptance. It is designed to simplify operations and support secure commerce across different markets and channels.
For businesses, the partnership could open digital commerce to a wider range of merchants, from independent social sellers and small and medium-sized enterprises to large companies using WhatsApp as a core commerce channel.
Ananth Gudipati, founder at Flowcart, said the collaboration is intended to change how businesses transact through social platforms.
“We are excited to collaborate with Mastercard to transform how businesses transact in social channels,” Gudipati said, noting that the solution will support businesses of different sizes and help drive higher conversion, repeat purchases and growth.
For consumers, the initiative provides a secure and simple in-chat payment experience. Tokenised card details will also make repeat purchases easier. For merchants, it reduces the need for websites or traditional point-of-sale systems while allowing them to integrate the solution with existing commerce systems.
The need for simpler payment solutions is clear among Kenyan businesses. The 2026 Mastercard SME Confidence Index found that 80% of Kenyan SMEs consider simple, seamless and user-friendly payment methods a top requirement for future growth.
The partnership will also strengthen cooperation between acquirers, fintechs, mobile network operators and commerce platforms. By bringing informal and creator-led commerce into digital payments, Mastercard and Flowcart aim to support financial inclusion while giving businesses more opportunities to reach customers, complete sales and build long-term relationships through social and messaging platforms.
