Juliet Mphande on What Gaming Operators Need from Payment Providers in Africa
FLEXIFAI’s Regional Director for Africa, Juliet Mphande, believes payment providers need to understand the markets in which they operate. In a conversation with iGaming AFRIKA’s Content Director, Mary Wanja, she explained why expansion becomes complicated for gaming operators and how FLEXIFAI works with local providers to serve them.
Juliet shared that one of the biggest mistakes a business can make is to treat experience in one African country as a guide to the rest. Kenya’s widespread use of mobile money, for example, does not reflect how most customers pay in South Africa, where cards and bank transfers are more common. Uganda has also embraced mobile money, but its market has developed differently from Kenya’s.
“I think the conversation we should be having more of is around that. Number one, Africa is not a country,” she said. “When you speak about Africa as the next frontier, do you mean Angola as the next frontier of growth? Do you mean Kenya as the next frontier of growth? Do you mean Egypt?”
A payment method or local partner that works well in one country may not serve an operator in another. Expanding across several markets can therefore mean finding multiple providers and managing a separate integration with each one. Juliet said FLEXIFAI brings local providers together through one API, which gives merchants access to the markets where it operates. Their knowledge of payment systems in their countries is central to how the model works.
“I think the biggest challenge merchants have faced is not necessarily unique to FLEXIFAI, as merchants, to be honest. It is something that is common within operating within different jurisdictions within the African market, and I think that is where our success story lies. Our ability to leverage existing licensing, existing partners within the continent, and of course, creating an API in which our merchants don’t need to have multiple integrations into one continent. So, we have one continent and then one solution, and our clients only see one API, and they can access all the markets where we exist, and with that, we resolve the challenge of operating in Africa,” she explained.
Technology is part of that proposition, but Juliet argued that the competitive advantage extends beyond the platform. Providers need to understand where transactions fail, adapt their routing to improve conversion and offer merchants support grounded in local conditions. They also need people and partners in the markets where they operate.
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Regulation makes that local knowledge increasingly important. She described a shift from markets where rules were once absent or unclear to ones where regulators are more engaged. For operators, that can mean updated know-your-customer (KYC) and business checks, new fees and changing costs of doing business. A smooth payment experience still matters, but so does knowing whether the arrangement behind it meets the requirements of each market.
“You find that the operators who are already set up in Africa, who are working in Africa, who have been partners in most African countries now have to update their KYCs, their KYB. They have to respond to new fees structures that are being introduced on multiple markets, and sometimes the cost of business, doing business, may outweigh the actual cost of staying in Africa,” she explained.
FLEXIFAI is beginning to offer merchants guidance on those requirements, including what they may need to enter a market and what it could cost to operate there. Juliet also believes providers and operators should engage with regulators regularly so that business growth and consumer protection are considered together.
The pressure on payment systems becomes especially clear during major sporting events, when gaming transactions can surge. Juliet explained that companies need to prepare for those peaks but also for the quieter periods that follow. A provider built to handle one busy tournament still has to support its merchants on an ordinary day.
FLEXIFAI was named Payment Service Provider of the Year at the inaugural iGaming AFRIKA Summit in May which the company credits investment in technology, local teams and partnerships, as well as the relationships the company has built with merchants. She sees those investments as ongoing work, particularly as the company expands its licensing and presence in African markets.
