Scale, a South African card‑issuing startup, has partnered with Mastercard, a global payments company, to simplify card products for businesses in Senegal, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Across many African markets, companies offering card payment must coordinate with several parties, including issuing banks, payment networks, and Bank Identification Number (BIN) sponsors, leading to slow product launches and increasing operational complexity. Mastercard and Scale say their one-integration model streamlines onboarding, processing, and compliance so businesses can focus on building products for customers while the platform handles the operational heavy lifting.
In Kenya, where mobile money is already big and card usage is growing for e-commerce and higher-value transactions, the partnership mainly cuts complexity and time-to-market for existing fintech players.
In markets like Senegal, Ivory Coast, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, where cards are less common and cash or mobile wallets still dominate, the focus is on enabling new use cases such as companion wallet cards, small and medium enterprises, corporate spending cards, payout cards for governments and non-profit organisations.
Through the partnership, Scale, founded in 2022 by Barbara Woollams and Miranda Naidoo, provides the issuing infrastructure, customer onboarding tools, and regulatory support while Mastercard brings its global payments network, bank partnerships and market expertise.
“Across Africa, innovators are creating powerful solutions, yet many are slowed down by the complex steps required to issue cards, which has a significant impact on their business, the market, and their growth,” said Miranda Naidoo, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Scale. “This collaboration with Mastercard removes those hurdles by giving businesses one clear, efficient way to enter the market and scale.”
This partnership builds on Scale’s earlier momentum, which included raising $700,000 in October 2024 to grow its card‑issuing platform across Africa. Additionally, it follows the surging demand for digital payments. McKinsey projected that Africa’s financial‑services revenues could reach around $230 billion in 2025, while globally, modern card‑issuing platforms are expected to issue about 35% of all payment cards by 2029.
“By simplifying the issuing journey, we are supporting fintechs and non-financial institutions as they expand access to digital financial services and bring more consumers and businesses into the formal economy,” said Mete Guney, Executive Vice President, Market Development for Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa at Mastercard.
The partnership gives Scale the network and credibility to move faster across five markets. The harder question is whether Scale has the operational depth to match that ambition, particularly in markets where mobile money already works well, and regulatory frameworks vary significantly. The next twelve months will be telling.
Sakhile Dube
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