Visa has opened its first innovation studio in sub-Saharan Africa in Nairobi, Kenya.
The studio is the second one by the payment giant in Central Europe, the Middle East, and Africa region.
The studio plans to broaden collaboration in the payment market in Kenya by bringing together the entire community of creators, innovators, tech entrepreneurs, investors, and policymakers, etc. to create solutions that will tackle the many pinpoints that consumers face in the financial services sector in Africa.
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Aida Diarra, senior vice-president and group country manager at Visa, Sub-Saharan Africa region, said collaboration within the payment ecosystem could push out innovations that are capable of attracting these unbanked businesses and individuals in Africa.
“Policies cannot be seen to be creating barriers to innovation,” said Otto Williams, senior vice president and head of partnerships, innovation, and digital solutions for Visa Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa.
“The youths (in Africa) are very motivated to address the challenges that they face, to problem-solve, adopt technology, to build new things, and we have to enable them. Part of the enabling is removing barriers to the things that they need to be successful,” Williams said.
