Pesapal, a Kenyan-based payments company that enables businesses to manage payments by making it easy for their customers to pay using various options: card and mobile money, has today announced the integration of American Express into its payment process platform. American Express card holders will from today be able use their cards to pay or transact on any online payment portal that uses Pesapal.
The new integration opens up Pesapal merchants to wider markets as the region sees a surge in foreign investments and Kenya continues to be East Africa’s biggest business hub. This move will impact businesses in the tourism and hospitality Sector. The travel and tourism economy recently hit 1.3 billion international arrivals and this goes to show the huge opportunity in the card space. Merchants in the tourism and hospitality sector will be able to add to the variety of booking and payment options available to international clients.
Pesapal offers an online booking engine for businesses in the hospitality industry through its platform ReservePort. In an interview with Techweez, Renee Ng’ang’a – head of marketing at Pesapal, disclosed that majority of the big hotels & tour operators use ReservePort and e-invoices for payments. She listed hotels such as Serena, Sarova, Heritage Hotels, Enashipai, Pride Inn Group, English Point Marina, Swahili Beach which use the said platform.
The company also offers various payment options for:
- Bills & utility payments (Zuku, DStv, GOTv, Liquid Telcom, Jamii Telcom, Kenya Power and airtime purchases)
- E-commerce (yum.co.ke, peperuka.co.ke)
- School fees payments
- Online Event Tickets and holidays on ticketsasa
- Flights – FastJet, JamboJet, African Airways
Renee Ng’ang’a also mentioned that a Mobile Point of Sale system (mPOS) was in the works and it will be targeted towards offline merchants, to push for cashless payments.
Pesapal’s online payment system is available in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia and Malawi where users can pay using mobile money, Visa and Mastercard. American Express will also be available in these markets with expansion into Nigeria projected for 2018.
Speaking on the American Express integration, Pesapal CEO Agosta Liko said, “We are committed to making it easier to do business online, securely and conveniently. Bringing American Express on board is a big step towards this and we hope that our merchants are able to take advantage of it to grow their business.”
