Nigerian fintech company, Payaza, has integrated Google Pay and Apple Pay into its payment platform, a move it says is aimed at capturing a larger share of Africa’s estimated $95 billion annual diaspora remittance market while future-proofing its infrastructure for the continent’s accelerating shift towards digital wallets.
The integration enables Payaza’s merchants across 21 African countries to accept payments from users of the two global digital wallets, which together account for an estimated 1.4 billion users worldwide.
However, Payaza’s chief executive officer, Seyi Ebenezer, says the decision is less about following global payment trends and more about removing a specific and persistent friction point, which is Africans in the diaspora trying to pay businesses back home more easily.
“Africans in the UK, US, and Canada live in these wallets,” Ebenezer said. “When they want to support family businesses, pay for services back home, or handle remittances, they encounter friction with standard checkout forms. We have removed that.”
How Payaza is Solving a Diaspora Payments Problem
Diaspora remittances remain a critical source of income for many African economies, but the process of paying merchants on the continent is often cumbersome. Traditional card forms, multiple authentication steps and cross-border payment failures frequently interrupt transactions.
By integrating Google Pay and Apple Pay directly into its checkout infrastructure, Payaza is betting that one-tap wallet payments will improve conversion rates for merchants and unlock new inflows from Africans abroad.
While Apple Pay transactions on Payaza are currently driven largely by diaspora and international users, given Apple’s limited local card issuance across most African markets, Google Pay already operates as a domestic payment option in Nigeria and parts of the continent.
Since 2023, Nigerian Verve and Mastercard holders have been able to add their cards to Google accounts, enabling local-to-local Google Pay transactions.
This creates a dual advantage for Payaza. Google Pay delivers immediate domestic and international utility, while Apple Pay allows the company to capture diaspora flows today in anticipation of broader local wallet adoption in the future.
According to Payaza, the wallet integration supports three primary use cases across its markets: diaspora remittances, inbound cross-border commerce, and infrastructure readiness for African merchants expanding globally.
Growth Without Venture Capital Dependence
The announcement comes amid a period of notable growth for Payaza, which has carved out a reputation in Africa’s fintech sector for prioritising financial discipline over aggressive venture capital-fuelled expansion.
In October 2024, the company redeemed ₦20.3 billion ($13.5 million) in commercial paper obligations entirely from internal cash flow, a rare achievement in an industry where many firms subsidise growth with external capital.
That financial independence has enabled Payaza to invest heavily in regulatory and technical infrastructure, what Ebenezer refers to as “the fortress”.
The company says it is currently the only certified Visa processor in sub-Saharan Africa, holds money services business licences across all 50 US states and Canada, and operates in 21 countries with direct partnerships with both Visa and Mastercard.
This infrastructure-first approach, according to Payaza, underpins its ability to roll out global payment tools such as Apple Pay and Google Pay with minimal friction for merchants.
A Deliberate Low Profile
Despite these milestones, Payaza has remained relatively low-profile until recently, a decision the company says was intentional.
“In the payment business, if you are famous too early, it’s usually for the wrong reasons (downtime, fraud, or scandal),” Ebenezer explained. “We spent the last few years securing licences in 21 countries and becoming the only certified Visa processor in the region. We wanted the infrastructure to be bulletproof before we turned on the spotlight.”
Founded in 2021, Payaza has since earned investment-grade credit ratings from three agencies, been named a Money20/20 Awards finalist, and in July 2025 received approval from Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commissionto raise an additional ₦20 billion under its commercial paper programme.
For merchants already using Payaza, the Google Pay and Apple Pay integration requires no additional technical work. The startup says wallet options are automatically enabled through the platform’s existing API and merchant dashboard.
Talking Points
It is notable that Payaza’s integration of Google Pay and Apple Pay goes beyond feature expansion and directly addresses a persistent friction point in African payments: enabling the diaspora to pay businesses back home with ease.
By allowing merchants across 21 African countries to accept wallet payments used daily by Africans in the UK, US and Canada, Payaza is positioning itself at the intersection of remittances, cross-border commerce and merchant payments.
At Techparley, we see this move as a practical response to how global payment behaviour is evolving, particularly as digital wallets increasingly replace traditional card checkouts for international transactions.
The dual nature of the integration is also significant. Google Pay already functions as a local payment option in markets like Nigeria, while Apple Pay currently serves diaspora and international users, giving Payaza immediate utility today and strategic optionality for future wallet expansion across Africa.
As Payaza scales, there is an opportunity to deepen its role by partnering with diaspora platforms, cross-border marketplaces and export-focused African businesses. If executed well, this integration could strengthen Payaza’s position as core payment infrastructure for Africa’s global digital economy.
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