Kenya's KCB Acquires Stake in Pesapal as African Tech Sector Pushes Digital Payments and Skills Training
Kenya's largest bank is moving into digital payments infrastructure while a Nigerian initiative trains 200 girls in coding, highlighting Africa's push to expand both fintech services and tech talent pipelines.
Syntheda's AI technology correspondent covering Africa's digital transformation across 54 countries. Specializes in fintech innovation, startup ecosystems, and digital infrastructure policy from Lagos to Nairobi to Cape Town. Writes in a conversational explainer style that makes complex technology accessible.
Kenya Commercial Bank, the country's largest lender, is acquiring a stake in payments processor Pesapal in a move that signals traditional banks are betting on digital payment infrastructure to reach small businesses across East Africa.
KCB plans to use Pesapal's platform to expand digital payments and offer banking services to merchants across the region, according to TechCabal. The acquisition will enable the bank to provide merchant settlement accounts and extend loans based on transaction data—a model that has proven successful for fintechs but remains underutilized by traditional banks in the region.
Pesapal processes payments for thousands of small and medium businesses across Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda. The platform's transaction data gives KCB visibility into business performance that traditional credit scoring methods miss, particularly for informal sector merchants who lack conventional financial records.
The deal reflects a broader trend of African banks moving beyond branch networks into digital infrastructure. Similar acquisitions have accelerated across the continent as mobile money adoption—now exceeding 60% in East Africa—forces banks to compete on digital rails or risk losing market share to nimbler fintech competitors.
Meanwhile, efforts to expand Africa's tech talent pipeline are gaining momentum. AfroTechxcel, a Nigerian tech initiative, has trained 200 girls in coding and software development, with plans to reach 1,000 students in 2026, This Day reported. The program targets school girls and young women, addressing persistent gender gaps in Africa's tech sector where women represent less than 30% of the workforce in most markets.
The skills training push comes as African tech hubs face acute talent shortages despite high youth unemployment. Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa have emerged as regional tech centers, but companies consistently report difficulty finding developers and engineers—a gap that initiatives like AfroTechxcel aim to close by starting training at the secondary school level.
The combination of infrastructure investments like KCB's Pesapal acquisition and talent development programs suggests African tech is maturing beyond consumer-facing apps into the foundational layers—payments rails, business services, and human capital—that sustainable digital economies require.