Considering PayPal was invented by an ex-South African (ahem… Mr Musk), you would expect accessing the global wallet service would be easier in the South of Africa. Unfortunately, however, it’s always been a mission to withdraw funds from PayPal into a South African bank account. So far, only FNB has an account that can receive funds from the global wallet.

Welcome to the neighbourhood, PayPal

Now, an African fintech called Flutterwave has announced a partnership with PayPal that will allow all its customers the ability to send money directly to merchants based in Africa. It’s called the ‘Pay with PayPal feature through its established platform, and will motivate local businesses and freelancers to engage with (and be paid by) more international clients.

The payment option will be integrated into Flutterwave’s platform — here, merchants will be able to add PP as a payment option when receiving money from outside the country. Thing is, you’ll need an existing business account with Flutterwave (which is essentially a payment gateway like PP, but in Africa). The service is already available in 50 African countries, we’re not sure which two didn’t make the cut.

Right now, only 12 countries in Africa may send and receive money on PP, and that’s where Flutterwave saw a gap. Its newest integration with PP will bring more payment options to small businesses, freelancers and creative industry workers across the continent.

Source: TechCrunch