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In Nigeria's everyday economy, the question "cash or transfer?" has become second nature. Whether buying food at a market stall, paying for fuel, or settling a tab at a restaurant, most transactions still resolve through either physical cash or a bank transfer. A two-year-old Nigerian startup called CashAfrica is building the infrastructure to add a third option: tap to pay, and it believes the country's payment culture is ready for that shift.

What CashAfrica Is Building

Founded by Malik Asamu and Bello Opeyemi, CashAfrica provides the infrastructure layer that enables contactless payments through Near Field Communication technology, the same short-range wireless standard that powers tap-to-pay on phones and contactless cards globally. Its product, CashTap, allows customers to pay by tapping a phone or contactless card on a standard point-of-sale terminal, completing the transaction in seconds without a PIN or transfer confirmation.

The company has already partnered with PalmPay to roll out contactless payment features on 1,000 POS terminals during a pilot phase in 2025, and has partnered with ChamsSwitch, a licenced switching and processing company, to handle transaction routing and settlement. The ChamsSwitch partnership was specifically designed to strengthen CashAfrica's regulatory credibility as it seeks to win integration agreements with larger financial institutions including UBA, Zenith Bank, and Kuda. Since launching, more than N2 billion has been processed through its infrastructure.

The Real Barrier Is Habit, Not Technology

CashAfrica's founders are clear-eyed about where the hardest part of their challenge lies. NFC-enabled smartphones and contactless debit cards are becoming more common in Nigeria. The technology exists. The problem is that tap-to-pay options are simply not available at most merchant locations, which means consumers default to what works: bank transfers. CashAfrica's argument is that once a user actually experiences a contactless payment, the speed and seamlessness of the interaction makes adoption significantly easier. The infrastructure gap, not the consumer mindset, is the primary obstacle.



A Local Alternative to Google Pay and Apple Pay

CashAfrica is explicitly positioning itself as a potential local alternative to international contactless payment services like Google Pay and Apple Pay, which have limited penetration in Nigeria's market. The company has attracted backing from investors linked to Draper University and the Afropreneur Angel Group as it pushes deeper into the fintech infrastructure space.

What to Watch

The success of CashAfrica's model will depend on how quickly it can sign agreements with the major banks and fintechs whose card and wallet products need to be contactless-enabled before consumers can actually use tap-to-pay at scale. The PalmPay pilot and the ChamsSwitch partnership are meaningful steps, but nationwide merchant terminal coverage is the milestone that will determine whether contactless payments become a mainstream option for Nigerian consumers or remain a niche feature available at a small fraction of point-of-sale locations.