In 2019 we published an article on why eCommerce has failed to take off in Zimbabwe. At the time truly, eCommerce was struggling to take off. That has changed over time since then with eCommerce steadily picking up momentum. In that article, I cited the issue of online payment gateways as an impediment in Zimbabwe. Our currency woes have always made us very detached from the rest of the world. This issue of online payment gateways has always been a huge setback for any possible advances in eCommerce. We are however seeing a couple of local online payment gateways emerge. Today let us look at 3 of some of the most notable ones:

Pay Now

Pay Now top-up is the premier one-stop platform for secure, instant, and convenient online payments for Zimbabwe. Pay Now accepts EcoCash, One Money, TeleCash, ZimSwitch, PayPal, MasterCard, and VISA. All in all, Pay Now is presently the most comprehensive online payment gateway in Zimbabwe. Personally, it is the first Zimbabwean online payment gateway I ever used and still mainly use. You can register and have an account.

You have the room to switch your account between ZWL$ and US$ when transacting. The categories for which Pay Now facilitates online payments are Airtime, Broadband, Mobile Bundles, Utility Bills, Tuition Fees, Insurance, Fuel, Phone, Wi-Fi Hotspots, and other services. Some of Pay Now’s most popular products are TelOne ADSL, ZESA Pre-Paid Electricity, Airtime Direct, and Nyaradzo Funeral & Life Assurance.

Pese Pay

Pesepay makes it possible for businesses in Africa to get paid by anyone, anywhere in the world. The basic cluster of payment solutions that Pesepay provides is online payments, recurring payments, bill payments, and invoicing.

With Pesepay, developers have room to develop custom payment experiences via the use of APIs. This makes it possible for them to make instant transfers, and review transaction and customer data. All the payment processes involved can be and will be automated. There is also plugin support for OpenCart and WordPress.

Pesepay has no lock-in contracts. The payment process is automated and there are flat-rate transaction fees. There are no setup fees; the setup process is fast. With Pesepay you can take real-time payments. It is also easy for you to integrate into eCommerce. You can register to create a free account by clicking here.

Steward Pay

Steward Pay is a Zimbabwean online payment gateway system that facilitates the processing of local and international payments online via EcoCash, ZimSwitch, VISA, MasterCard, and Steward Bank accounts. You then add a supported payment method. The core functionalities of Steward Pay are:

Ecommerce Acquiring

This entails the provision of online integration services for established websites and online marketing platforms.

Buyer Protection

This is possible through industry-standard encryption and 3D secure transaction mechanisms.

Ecommerce On Kambudzi

This is USSD functionality for merchants with “Kambudzi” phones or with limited data on their mobile phones.

Self On-Boarding

This is a self-service onboarding process for merchants using web and mobile applications.

Data Analytics

This enables merchants to see data analytics related to their transactions using a configurable reporting tool.

Account Aggregation

This involves merchants and users being able to use multiple accounts from different financial service providers under one account. This essentially makes it possible for users to pay and merchants to receive funds in any bank account.

To sign up you can go to the website, call 0771222783, or email stewardpay@stewardbank.co.zw. You register a profile on Square or whilst initiating payment for the first time.

These are the 3 notable online payment gateways to consider in Zimbabwe. There is definitely room for more. For instance, I also know of InstaPay which I have used sometimes. They even have an Android mobile app you can download but there is definitely room for more functionality. Regardless, it is good to now see a number of options to consider being available. This not only brings convenience to consumers but also streamlines eCommerce. Online payment gateways tailored for the Zimbabwean context have largely been the missing link in Zimbabwean eCommerce. It is also refreshing to see that these online payments also tap into the diaspora domain.