Zambia’s Union54, a leading provider of innovative digital financial solutions, has partnered Mastercard to launch social commerce platform ChitChat.
A Y Combinbator alumni, Union54 has developed a number of tools to propel African commerce forward. The startup works with financial technology companies across Africa, and has issued millions of debit cards to African consumers from almost every country on the continent.
The startup has partnered with Mastercard to launch ChitChat, a social commerce platform that enables consumers across Africa to chat to each other over an encrypted platform. ChitChat users will also be able to send each other money, access a USD debit card, and purchase from digital storefronts within the app. ChitChat’s card and payments features will roll out in a beta for Angola, Tanzania, and Ghana, with more markets being added this year.
Mastercard’s integration into ChitChat’s payments and USD debit card features represents a deepening of its partnership to enable the issuance of cards in African markets. Union54 previously issued over two million cards in partnership with Mastercard.
“We are excited to announce our ChitChat product and at the same time, announce our expanded partnership with Mastercard,” said Perseus Mlambo, CEO of Union54. “We believe that mobile payments and chat platforms can be a powerful force for increasing trade across Africa, and we are committed to building a platform that accelerates this. We’ve built payments into a chat platform, giving everyone a USD card on demand – on our terms.”
