field notes on african payments, from the team building it.
Field notes from inside African payments: acquiring, mobile money mandates, tax, disputes and the operational reality of the merchant of record model. Written by the team building it, from years of running these rails at scale. No ghostwriters, no filler.
Working notes on merchant of record economics, card acquiring, mobile money, VAT and consumer protection. Written the way we'd brief a colleague. No thought leadership. Just what we know.
Why African subscription revenue is uncollectable without a MoR
The signups are real. The demand is real. The money still doesn't arrive, and it's not a payments problem.
Card acquiring in South Africa: what actually determines approval rates
Everyone negotiates fees. The serious money is in approval rates, and approval rates are an accumulation of small correctness.
Mobile money and recurring billing: the mechanics of stop orders on MTN MoMo and Airtel Money
Cards renew themselves. Mobile money doesn't, unless the network gives you a way to ask once and charge many times.
VAT on digital services across Africa: a country by country map for foreign SaaS
If you sell software into African markets, you probably owe VAT there right now. Here's the current map, and it moved three times in the last year.
Statement descriptors, chargebacks and consumer protection: why local matters
Most chargebacks aren't fraud. They're confusion, and confusion is a design failure you can fix.
From PSP to MoR: the operational shift for global SaaS entering Africa
Moving to a merchant of record isn't a payments integration. It's a commercial restructuring, and it touches more of your company than you expect.