Visa’s head of emerging products and innovation in Africa has backed Near Field Communication (NFC) technology as a sound investment.
Dougie Henderson, speaking at Mobile Money World Africa 2013, said South Africa was the most suited African country to begin rolling out NFC substantially.
He said there are already three public tenders in place and another seven to come shortly, although they are currently primarily transport focused.
Henderson said while NFC can be also functioned through a card or fob, Visa was concentrating on mobile.
“It is based on the idea that if I leave my wallet at home I am not very likely to turn around and go and get it. But if I leave my mobile at home I will turn around.”
He added: “South Africa is very quickly evolving. Contactless [payments] is already here. The retailers are picking it up. Shoprite and Pick n Pay are on the way to doing this.
“If you are going to make an investment in this market you should be seriously considering it.”
Henderson did however say the mobile payment ecosystem is complex because networks and retailers are joining the financial services environment and the process could be slow when working with public tenders.
