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, targeting more than 40 million micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).
Under the expanded agreement, TeamApt will operate directly on Mastercard’s global payments network as a non-bank acquirer. The arrangement will enable the company to onboard licensed entities and provide payment acceptance, transaction processing and acquiring services across in-store, online and mobile channels.
The partnership combines TeamApt’s payment-switching infrastructure with Mastercard’s global network, creating additional capacity for businesses handling high transaction volumes and enabling them to accept Mastercard cards through multiple payment channels.
MSMEs and informal-sector businesses are expected to be among the major beneficiaries, gaining access to digital payment infrastructure that can support transactions across different channels.
Mastercard’s Country Manager for West Africa, Folasade Femi-Lawal, said expanding digital payment acceptance was one of the fastest ways to help small businesses across Africa compete, grow and reach more customers.
She said the partnership would give businesses greater access to digital payment infrastructure while creating new opportunities within the wider 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 growth and expansion of small businesses.
For Mastercard, the partnership provides 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 created challenges for the expansion of formal financial services. Increased access to digital payment infrastructure could enable more businesses to participate in the formal digital economy while giving consumers more convenient 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.
He added that the arrangement would provide consumers with greater flexibility for both local and international transactions.
The expanded partnership will allow Mastercard cardholders to transact with merchants connected to TeamApt’s infrastructure, potentially increasing the number of Nigerian businesses able to accept Mastercard cards issued locally and internationally.
TeamApt is licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria as a switching and processing company and 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 the company to expand payment acceptance as more Nigerian businesses move away from cash-based transactions.
The collaboration also builds on the wider Moniepoint ecosystem, which operates an extensive agent network across Nigeria with coverage in all 774 local government areas.
By combining 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 faced 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 forming a significant part of Nigeria’s business landscape, the expansion of payment infrastructure could support greater financial inclusion, business growth and access to new markets.
