Visa sets sights on Rwanda

Reuters Africa reports.

Under the agreement, Visa will install basic infrastructure for electronic payments and acceptance of payment cards and localised clearing and settlement services.

The Wall Street Journal says the agreement aims to get Visa's cards into the hands of average Rwandans, many of whom do not have bank accounts.

The deal will also help test appetite in the last largely untapped financial services market in the world: Africa.

Visa will expand its network of ATMs and businesses that accept its cards in Rwanda. In addition, it will train Rwandan officials in financial management, with an eye toward handling payments between the government and its vendors and employees.

According to Market Watch, the partnership is a step forward in the Rwandan government's 2020 vision to become a middle-income nation, with per capita income of $1 000 by 2020, up from $220 in 2000. The success of that plan relies on a number of pillars, including shifting to a knowledge-based economy, private sector development and improving infrastructure.

Creating public-private partnerships is also a key component of Visa's global growth strategy. The company aims to generate 50% of its revenue from markets outside of the US by 2015. This will partly be enabled through its ability to build, buy and deploy new technologies that extend its products to geographies where electronic payments are limited.