M-Pesa Africa and Vodacom Tanzania Launch Contactless Tap-to-Pay in Partnership with Paymentology and Visa

M-Pesa Africa and Vodacom Tanzania Plc, in partnership with Paymentology and Visa, recently officially launched Africa’s first mobile-money Tap-to-Pay feature. 

Announced on 17 March, the new capability is integrated into the M-Pesa SuperApp, allowing users to make contactless payments using Android smartphones at any Visa-enabled point-of-sale (POS) terminal both within Tanzania and internationally. This development transforms the M-Pesa Visa Virtual Card into a tap-and-go solution, eliminating the need for a physical plastic card for secure transactions. 

The service is powered by Paymentology’s cloud-first issuing and processing infrastructure, which facilitates secure tokenisation at the issuer level. This ensures that payments are not only seamless but also protected by global security standards. By bringing together mobile money, virtual cards, and global card acceptance, the partnership establishes Tap-to-Pay as a practical solution for daily transactions. 

The launch marks a significant shift in Tanzania’s economy, where real-time digital transactions are becoming increasingly central to daily commerce. Tanzania’s mobile money ecosystem is expanding rapidly, with the number of accounts reaching 76.5 million as of December 2025, a 21% increase from the previous year. 

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Epimack Mbeteni, M-PESA Director at Vodacom, described the launch as the realization of a simple idea, now live. He said: “What began as a simple idea, giving M-Pesa customers the freedom to tap and pay anywhere using just their phones, is now a live reality. This launch is the result of deep collaboration across Vodacom, M-Pesa Africa, Visa and Paymentology, and reflects our shared commitment to making payments simpler, safer and more accessible for millions of people.” 

This initiative also builds on the successful history between Paymentology and M-Pesa, who previously collaborated in Kenya to launch the GlobalPay Visa virtual card in 2022. Paymentology’s more than 20-year track record in African markets serves as the foundation for this expansion into Tanzania and future growth across the region. 

Meagan Rabe, Vice President of Merchant Services, Acquiring and Fintech for Sub-Saharan Africa at Visa, noted that, “The advancement of mobile-money Tap-to-Pay is the result of effective collaboration within the payments ecosystem. Visa offers a robust global network and contactless infrastructure, Paymentology facilitates secure tokenisation at the issuer level, and Vodacom provides extensive reach through its trusted M-Pesa platform, relied upon by millions. Collectively, this partnership is establishing Tap-to-Pay as a widely adopted payment solution for daily transactions.” 

For consumers, Tap-to-Pay provides the security of a familiar mobile-money interface with the added flexibility of global acceptance wherever Visa is recognized. For merchants and entrepreneurs, it opens new opportunities to serve a customer base that increasingly expects contactless, mobile-based payment options. 

Anna Porra, Chief Revenue Officer at Paymentology, stated, “At Paymentology, we believe innovations like Tap-to-Pay accelerate financial inclusion by making everyday transactions simpler and safer for everyone. This launch marks an important step forward for the country’s digital economy. We’re proud to support Vodacom and M-Pesa, alongside Visa, with the issuer-processing capabilities that enable fast, secure and next-generation payments for millions of people.”