By 
By Gunjan Dhingra
By the time the first customer steps into a shop in Nairobi, Kampala, Kigali, or Dar es Salaam, commercial activities have already begun online. This can range from a trader paying for a social media advert to a tour operator confirming a booking from abroad to a student trying to access an international course. Across East Africa, people are participating in the digital economy, but often face friction when local wallets, mobile money and bank accounts meet a global marketplace built around cards.
RELATED: Mastercard and BMONI launch new virtual and physical cards for Nigerian consumers
East Africa has become one of the world’s most dynamic digital payment markets. Mobile money has changed how people save, send, borrow and trade, with digital transactions becoming a part of daily life from markets to school fees. [1]The World Bank’s Global Findex 2025 shows that account ownership in Sub-Saharan Africa rose to 58% of adults, up from 49% in 2021, with mobile money usage among the highest globally.
Virtual cards matter because they answer everyday needs
However, the question is no longer about access but about participation. Is it possible to purchase design software or an international supplier without conflict in a small business? Does a student need to use a traditional credit card to cover costs for global learning materials? Is it possible for an SME to process subscriptions and cross-border sales in the same manner as cash flow?
Virtual cards matter because they answer these everyday needs. They are not simply a digital version of plastic cards. Instead, at their best, they bridge Africa’s local payment ecosystems and the global digital economy.
Customers can generate card credentials linked to a wallet, account or prepaid balance, then use them online with spending limits, controls and security features that make them safer and easier to manage than conventional cards.
Gunjan Dhingra
For consumers, that means access to e-commerce, education, entertainment, travel and software. For SMEs, it means control. A business can issue cards for specific purposes, set staff limits, monitor expenses in real time, separate vendor payments from operating cash and reduce the paperwork that slows many growing enterprises. [2]GSMA’s 2026 mobile money report found that more than $2 trillion flowed through mobile money wallets globally in 2025, while registered accounts reached 2.3 billion.
Virtual cards resolves digital doubts
Furthermore, although mobile money resolves the first issue by allowing citizens to share and transfer money digitally, virtual cards are likely to help address the next issue by providing users with a trusted alternative to spending that isn’t entirely on local rails, particularly when global merchants, platforms and service providers rely on card networks.
Mobile money-linked virtual cards can also enable customers without bank accounts to pay online safely, and prepaid and multi-currency virtual cards can provide users with greater visibility into their spending, travel, and remittances.
In the face of all the promises and hope of digital payments, there is still a lack of trust for deeper adoption. When users are asked to share their payment information on an unfamiliar site, they are less inclined than when they are asked to enter information on a site they know.
Companies want to go digital when it comes to payments, but there’s an element of fear that bad guys will pocket up their payment, or someone else will use their information for some bad purpose.
Virtual cards are a solution to this problem. Through tokenization, limited-use credentials, transaction controls, and the ability to freeze or delete card details, they can make it safer for people and entities to make payments.
Virtual cards professionalize layers of spending
The opportunity is even more important for SMEs. Even if they don’t identify as digital firms, small companies are becoming more digital across East Africa. Social media companies sell advertising space to salons; logistics firms pay for route-planning software; even a freelancer purchases design software; and a tour company pays listing fees to reach international customers. However, many SMEs continue to rely on personal cards/cash workarounds and borrowed credentials, which pose risks and reduce accountability.
Virtual cards can professionalize this layer of spending. They can support SMEs with expense tracking, subscription management, sorting out personal and business transactions, and creating better transaction logs that can be used to obtain loans and credit in the future.
They are connected to responsible credit, loyalty programmes, and remittances, and can transition from just a tool for transactions to a financial enabling layer.
Virtual helping to connect domestic innovation to global acceptance
This evolution is happening as Africa builds faster payment rails. [3]AfricaNenda’s SIIPS 2025 report shows that 36 instant payment systems are live across 31 African countries, processing 64 billion transactions worth nearly $2 trillion in 2024. Virtual cards can complement those rails by connecting domestic innovation to global acceptance
If this potential is to be realized, then the collaboration will take as much importance as the technology supporting it. Financial institutions, fintechs, mobile network operators, payment processors, regulators, and card networks need to develop solutions which are affordable, secure, and easy to understand.
Providers such as Network International (Network) can play a quiet but important role here, helping connect the infrastructure behind card issuing, merchant acceptance and payment processing to the everyday needs of banks, fintech, SMEs and consumers.
Regulation has to keep pace with digital payment innovations
Regulation also has to keep pace. The [4]IMF’s 2025 paper on digital payment innovations in Sub-Saharan Africa highlights the need for an enabling, competitive, interoperable and secure environment, as well as stronger cross-border collaboration. This is especially relevant for East Africa, where trade, travel, remittances and digital work already move across borders faster than many legacy systems can support.
Therefore, technological innovations are not the only drivers of the future of payments in East Africa; they will also be characterized by the development of inclusive, secure and accessible financial infrastructure. Virtual cards mark a significant milestone on that path and will facilitate further progress toward the digital economy, helping consumers and SMEs do business with greater confidence.
The writer is the Regional Managing Director for Outsourced Payment Services, East Africa – Network International
[1]https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2025/07/16/mobile-phone-technology-powers-saving-surge-in-developing-economies
[2]https://www.gsma.com/newsroom/press-release/mobile-money-accounted-for-2-trillion-in-transactions-in-2025-doubling-since-2021-as-active-accounts-continue-to-grow/
[3]https://africanenda.org/africas-digital-payments-gain-momentum-siips-2025-reveals-2-trillion-in-instant-payments-driving-growth-and-inclusion/
[4]https://www.imf.org/en/publications/departmental-papers-policy-papers/issues/2025/06/27/digital-payment-innovations-in-sub-saharan-africa-529198
