MoneyAfrica, a Nigerian contactless cost infrastructure supplier, has partnered with Food Concepts, the quick-service restaurant firm that owns Chicken Republic, PieXpress, and The Chop Box, to convey mobile tap-to-pay to Chicken Republic outlets throughout Nigeria.
The partnership will let prospects pay for his or her meals by tapping their smartphones on supported cost terminals. According to MoneyAfrica, the rollout might be phased, beginning in Lagos earlier than increasing to Abuja and different places.
Chicken Republic has greater than 350 outlets throughout Nigeria and recorded ₦60.9 billion ($45.7 million) in gross sales in 2023. The scale of its operations provides MoneyAfrica a possible route to enhance the adoption of tap-to-pay funds in Nigeria.
“This is a strategic partnership to take Mobile Tap-to-Pay mainstream, while delivering the best-in-class payment experience,” Malik Asamu, MoneyAfrica’s chief government officer, mentioned in an announcement. “Previously, Nigerian users and merchants could collect transfers, cards, QR code, and cash options. This strategic partnership delivers a whole new layer of payment possibilities, created the Pan-African way.”
The deal follows MoneyAfrica’s partnership with ChamsSwitch, a licenced switching and digital cost processing firm, in May to handle regulatory compliance and transaction-routing necessities that had slowed the adoption of its contactless cost infrastructure. It additionally builds on an earlier integration with PalmPay, which started rolling out contactless cost performance on its point-of-sale (POS) terminals in February 2025, beginning with a 1,000-device pilot.
Founded in 2024 by Asamu and Bello Opeyemi, MoneyAfrica supplies cost infrastructure that permits banks and fintechs to combine contactless transactions into their current companies. Its MoneyTap expertise makes use of near-field communication (NFC), a short-range wi-fi expertise that permits appropriate units to change data when introduced shut collectively.
MoneyAfrica’s mobile tap-to-pay product permits prospects to provoke funds with their telephones by collaborating banking and fintech apps. A buyer opens a supported app, selects the tap-to-pay choice, authenticates the transaction the place required, and faucets the cellphone in opposition to a appropriate POS terminal. Depending on the machine, cost authentication can contain options similar to Face ID or fingerprint recognition, in accordance to MoneyAfrica.
Under the partnership with Food Concepts, customers work together with PalmPay’s POS terminals for the cost, whereas MoneyAfrica provides the expertise that allows the contactless transaction. ChamsSwitch, in the meantime, helps the settlement facet of the transaction. Asamu advised TechCabal in an interview that the corporate acts as a regulatory and infrastructure companion, serving to facilitate funds motion between the fintechs and operators concerned within the cost.
“ChamsSwitch is a regulatory partner that allows us to do a lot of cross settlements,” he mentioned. “If Chicken Republic is collecting tap-to-pay, a lot of that money needs to be moving in the background, such as T+1 settlements and end-of-day settlements. ChamsSwitch is heavily involved in that.”
MoneyAfrica mentioned it can introduce the service steadily earlier than making mobile tap-to-pay out there throughout all 350-plus Chicken Republic outlets. The firm additionally plans to work with extra banks and fintechs to broaden the variety of prospects who can use the characteristic by their current apps.
“Customer experience has always been at the heart of Chicken Republic, and we continuously look for ways to make every meal faster, easier and more convenient,” Solomon Ojelade, head of finance at Chicken Republic, mentioned within the assertion. “Our partnership with CashAfrica brings that commitment into the payment experience, giving our customers access to a fast and seamless Mobile Tap to Pay option across our outlets.”
At Chicken Republic, prospects won’t pay a separate payment to use mobile tap-to-pay, Asamu advised TechCabal. Instead, the service provider pays MoneyAfrica for transactions processed by its infrastructure. The firm mentioned it fees a share of every transaction, usually between 0.1% and 1.5%, relying on the association.
MoneyAfrica is wanting to capitalise on Nigeria’s rising use of digital funds. In 2024, digital transactions processed by the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System’s prompt cost system surpassed ₦1 quadrillion ($803 billion). The firm intends to flip that development into the adoption of a more recent cost methodology.
Asamu mentioned the corporate has signed different partnerships with companies the place prospects often make in-person funds, together with quick-service eating places and supermarkets, and can announce them within the coming months.
“The change in the average Nigerian customer consumption pattern in financial technology has allowed us to see wind in the sails of contactless payments,” he mentioned. “We make the bet and continue to bet on contactless payments.”
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