Mastercard and TeamApt, the financial infrastructure company behind Moniepoint, have expanded their partnership to broaden digital payment acceptance among businesses and financial institutions across Nigeria, with more than 40 million micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) targeted.

The expanded agreement will see TeamApt operate directly on Mastercard’s global payments network as a non-bank acquirer. Through the arrangement, the company will be able to onboard licensed entities and offer payment acceptance, transaction processing and acquiring services through in-store, online and mobile channels.

The collaboration brings together TeamApt’s payment-switching infrastructure and Mastercard’s global network, creating additional capacity for businesses handling high transaction volumes and enabling them to accept Mastercard cards through several payment channels.

MSMEs and informal-sector businesses are expected to be among the key beneficiaries, gaining access to payment infrastructure capable of supporting transactions across different channels.

“Expanding digital payment acceptance is one of the fastest ways to support small businesses across Africa to compete, grow, and reach more customers,” the Country Manager for West Africa at Mastercard, Folasade Femi-Lawal, said in a statement.

She added that the partnership would help businesses gain access to digital payment infrastructure while creating opportunities within the broader digital economy.

The expanded collaboration comes as Nigerian businesses continue to adopt digital payment solutions for receiving payments, managing transactions and serving customers.

Mastercard’s 2026 SME Confidence Index also identified digital solutions as an important factor supporting the expansion and scaling of small businesses.

For Mastercard, the partnership offers an opportunity to deepen payment acceptance among smaller businesses in Nigeria, one of Africa’s largest economies.

Nigeria’s large informal sector and fragmented merchant market have historically presented challenges to the expansion of formal financial services. Greater access to digital payment infrastructure could enable more businesses to participate in the formal digital economy while providing consumers with additional ways to pay for goods and services.

TeamApt Chief Executive Officer, Dennis Ajalie, said the partnership would strengthen the company’s payment infrastructure and make it easier for businesses to accept payments.

According to him, the arrangement would also provide consumers with greater flexibility for local and international transactions.

The expanded partnership will allow Mastercard cardholders to transact with merchants connected to TeamApt’s infrastructure. This could increase the number of Nigerian businesses able to accept Mastercard cards issued both locally and internationally.

TeamApt is licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria as a switching and processing company. The company has spent more than a decade developing payment infrastructure for banks, fintech companies and other financial institutions.

Its systems support transaction processing across multiple payment channels, positioning TeamApt to expand payment acceptance as more Nigerian businesses transition away from cash-based transactions.

The collaboration also builds on the wider Moniepoint ecosystem, which operates an extensive agent network across Nigeria and has coverage across all 774 local government areas.

By bringing together merchant infrastructure, payment processing capabilities and Mastercard’s international payments network, the partnership could extend digital payment access to more businesses, particularly MSMEs that have traditionally encountered barriers to formal financial services.

For Nigeria’s small-business sector, broader access to reliable digital payment services could improve how businesses receive money, serve customers and participate in the wider digital economy.

With more than 40 million MSMEs representing a significant part of Nigeria’s business landscape, the expansion of payment infrastructure could also support greater financial inclusion, business growth and access to new markets.

Source: msme Africa online