By Habibat Aliu
INDIGENOUS software development company, Upperlink, licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as a Payment Solution Service Provider (PSSP) has signed a partnership agreement with VISA (a global payment and financial service company) as a Payment Facilitator.
The firm is also expanding international market options for local merchants with Upperlink Paygate (her proprietary payment gateway) collection platform.
The Managing Director of Upperlink, Segun Akano, who disclosed this, said the Upperlink Paygate would address an apparent lack in the commercial sector about collections for merchants in both local and foreign currency, adding “it will meet the needs of businesses across Africa, as these businesses can now connect with a wider range of potential customers across the globe.”
He said this edge is what made Upperlink Paygate platform “an invaluable tool for merchants in sub-Saharan Africa, as it provides them with a better way of doing business and in the process improves the foreign exchange earnings of the country”, he explained further.
The collaboration with VISA has allowed Upperlink to leverage the benefits of VISA’s range of services, and this has led to the deployment of Upperlink Paygate, which integrates with Visa’s CyberSource, a platform that supports payment methods across different channels.
“Upperlink PayGate is robust and has the capabilities to process payment across all card schemes including Visa, MasterCard, American Express, China UnionPay and others. The lack of accessibility to services such as this has resulted in the inability of merchants to expand their business into the international market due to the absence of a medium through which income can be received from foreign customers”, Akano said.
With this partnership, Upperlink will provide the infrastructure, competence, and support necessary for businesses, sub-merchants, and aggregators to begin accepting card payments.
“By taking advantage of VISA’s unique capabilities, Upperlink Paygate offers a platform for businesses across sub-Saharan Africa to receive payments from clients all over the world in both local and foreign currency”, he said.
According to him, with its simplified and secure services, Upperlink Paygate provides self-onboarding services, fast settlements, and competitive transaction rates” and the flexibility to accommodate the needs of individuals, SMEs and large corporations.
In its over two decades of operation, the company has employed cutting-edge technologies to develop landmark solutions that cater to the enterprise needs of corporate and individuals with suitable long-term solutions that currently thrive in both the corporate and government sectors.
With Upperlink Paygate, the firm would be able to underwrite, onboard merchants and businesses and then provide them with the technology required to process electronic payments and receive the funds from those payments. “This will create a veritable alternative for the growth of the e-payment space in Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa,” he added.
