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Paypal moves deeper into Africa

Oluniyi D. Ajao

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2 min read

I found out (to my pleasant surprise), while browsing through the Paypal website yesterday that the service is now accessible in more African countries. The recent expansion of Paypal is not limited to African countries but my focus is on Africa.

Hitherto, South Africa had been the only African country supported by Paypal. The popular online financial institution has now extended its services to Botswana, Cape Verde, Namibia, Togo and Tunisia, on the African continent. In all the six countries however, users can only send, and not receive funds via Paypal.
This is good news for me, and I can only hope that they soon reach Ghana and Nigeria. I can only wonder, what their criteria for entering a country is. Egypt and Nigeria are amongst the biggest economies in Africa and Nigeria has a very good and dynamic banking system. Whatever qualifies Togo should have qualified Nigeria.

According to CNET:

Founded in 1998, PayPal, enables any individual or business with an email address to securely, easily and quickly send and receive payments online. It serves as an electronic alternative to traditional paper methods such as checks and money orders.

PayPal has quickly become a global leader in online payment solutions with 100 million account members worldwide. Available in 103 countries and regions around the world, the company claims 14 million accounts globally, and total transactions of US$8.9 billion in the second quarter of 2006.

It’s all good.

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Oluniyi D. Ajao Avatar
Oluniyi D. Ajao
Oluniyi D. Ajao is an Internet Entrepreneur and Tech Enthusiast. Follow him on X (fka Twitter) @niyyie for more tech updates.

Comments

  1. Tony Spacey Avatar
    Tony Spacey

    Hi Fifi I hope you see this it’s the chief Boy Scout you should know me please contact me

    Reply
  2. helen Avatar
    helen

    routing number for fnb namibia please

    Reply
  3. KARIN Avatar
    KARIN

    this sucks that we in namibia cannot receive money through paypal please look into it

    Reply
  4. Maria. J Avatar
    Maria. J

    When will Namibia be able to receive payments via paypal. I know many people who would like to make use of this service but can not due to the fact that we can not receive money in Namibia and withdraw to our FNB accounts like SA. That would be a great convenience.

    Reply
  5. winfried hundt Avatar
    winfried hundt

    Sorry for my long story, but after 40 years of learning and 5 years of work, pay-pal just screws Africa.

    Reply
  6. winfried hundt Avatar
    winfried hundt

    I am living in Namibia. Have Published a 512Page text book in 1989 for
    R129,- which has sold two years ago as collectors item for GBP145,-.
    I decided to publish a second edition in eBook format, much extended
    due to better SW and no limit to page numbers. I estimated the book
    would have about 850 pages when finished.
    However, certain realities set in. 850 digital pages, most of the
    pages containing .jpg or .dwg and tables, I had 1.2Million files to
    take care of. This by itself is a monumental brain destroying task.
    Besides, to down-load the850 pages in high quality graphics would be a
    book in the order of 800MB. To reduce this I would have to skimp on
    graphics quality. So I decided rather than to publish one big book, I
    would turn each of the 17 chapters into a small book of about 80 pages
    (I know 17×80 is more than 850). Each book would have advertisement
    for the whole series and links to my technical website. This being a
    text book on a popular subject, never as detailed before, I tried to
    publish under Google books partner program. After all hassles of
    listing etc. I found out that Namibia (and many small countries are
    not included in the Google Books Partner Program. So I searched and
    found Lulu.com where I deposited a 100dpi scanned copy of my first
    book split in three.
    After uploading and choosing the payment option of Paypal, I was
    sometime later informed that to sell books via a US company, I would
    have to be registered with the IRS (US tax Authority and pay taxes in
    the US as well!)
    These registration forms obtained, PayPal informed me that in Namibia
    I can send money, but not receive money.
    After searching SA options, I found the site PUBLISHER.CO.ZA which is a selfpublishig company, to find out that I need a SA bank account which I do not have.
    However my daughter has a some sort of a bank- or savings account in PE.
    I may point out to you, that potential buyers are 4Mil, member of the
    NRA, Police departments world wide, forensic experts, pathologists,
    shooters and hunters.
    For example the New York Police department buys 10000 pistols in one order. They would certainly buy many books too. If you are willing to help listing my series,I( can let you gladly have the overview of the content in PDF format.
    Due to the many illustrations and tables, I can not allow any person
    to edit the books in any way. For the same reason, until better eBook
    creation SW is available, the format is limited to search-able PDF
    format.
    The following is now for you Ian. I tried a few other sites but nobody wants to do a EFT directly to my site or bank account. No idea why that is so. People buy silencers from me, I order things from the RSA, all done using EFT.

    Sometimes such a knock might be a good thing. I realized by being in contact with other self-publishing authors, that I would have to promote my books by writing articles and having an exposure and web site on social media. Having it just up on the net means nothing if nobody knows about it.
    Therefore I consider now a different road. I investigated shopping cart SW and finding a host and a paygate or money manager.
    Now you know the situation and possibly you have a solution or a contact. It is understood that I would pay the same commission that any of the host such as Lulu.com or Gumroad would ask.

    Reply
  7. Katrina Avatar
    Katrina

    can anyone tell me what Is the routing number for First National bank in Namibia

    Reply
  8. muukiomuingi Avatar
    muukiomuingi

    just an update for this.

    We all know PayPal started operating in South Africa just a few months ago, during the World cup. Well, it appears now that PayPal has added Kenya to the list of countries whose residents that can receive and send money using PayPal, the second African country on the said list. The site does not support local withdrawals as yet, and customers hoping to use it must add a US bank account to make withdrawals. Apparently the company is negotiating with a local bank to support local withdrawals in the near future, but I bet many Kenyan eCommerce entrepreneurs would rather have money lying in their PP accounts than in a potential client’s pocket (to be withdrawn at a future date). We all hope this signals a change in attitude by PayPal towards Africa, and that more countries will be added to that list in the future.

    Reply
    1. Oluniyi David Ajao Avatar
      Oluniyi David Ajao

      You are right! Thanks a lot for the heads-up.

      Reply
  9. crystals Avatar
    crystals

    Paypal is so not serious.they’re only after their personal gains by way of transfer/transaction fees.Why bother if you won’t render full service.I think its just bullshit.
    Good thing is they’ve got competition-graphcard.Though new on the scene,graphcard is making a lot of progress.Paypal sure lacks figures cuz they are missing out on an estimated 250m online shoppers(mostly from 3rd world nations) who have no access to any form of online payment and thats the very niche graphcard is targeting.
    Paypal can always sod off!

    Reply
  10. Oluniyi David Ajao Avatar
    Oluniyi David Ajao

    @ Alex, I doubt if Paypal has a physical presence in Namibia.

    Reply
    1. Stanley Avatar
      Stanley

      Hi David
      How are you? do u know if they provide the service in Namibia?

      Reply
      1. Oluniyi David Ajao Avatar
        Oluniyi David Ajao

        Residents of Namibia can send money via Paypal but like the rest of Africa, are unable to receive.

        Reply
        1. Jenny Avatar
          Jenny

          Can Namibians and the rest of Africa still not receive money via Paypal?

          Reply
          1. Niqi Avatar
            Niqi

            @ Jenny – No, we can send money but still not receive. Very frustrating!!! FNB South Africa can receive now, and they are working on FNB Namibia… But we will have to see when that gets through.

          2. Oluniyi David Ajao Avatar
            Oluniyi David Ajao

            Only residents of South Africa and Kenya can send and receive money via PayPal in Africa, at this time.

  11. Alex Avatar
    Alex

    Hello
    What’s the location of the paypal office in Namibia?

    Reply
    1. Stanley Avatar
      Stanley

      Hi Alex how are you? am also from Namibia have u found out about where there office are located and used paypal?

      Reply
  12. nwandu chinenye gift Avatar
    nwandu chinenye gift

    i had a bad dream,when i got up and went to see a friend there i was told jt west is dead.so painful i felt like something has just left me.his death is so painful and i prayer for God to grant him enternal rest in his kingdom.till we meet to part no more.Adieu,great friend,Adieu jt tom west.we will forever remeber u.

    Reply
  13. bankelele Avatar
    bankelele

    It’s about time, but I don’t think Paypal are truly interested in Africa. Sooner or later, another company will recognize the potential of Africa in e-commerce and put up a platform that is truly African like mamamikes.com in Kenya

    Reply
  14. Global Voices Online » Blog Archive » Africa: PayPal expansion into Africa

    […] Oluniyi David Ajao writes about PayPal expansion into Africa, “Hitherto, South Africa had been the only African country supported by Paypal. The popular online financial institution has now extended its services to Botswana, Cape Verde, Namibia, Togo and Tunisia, on the African continent. In all the six countries however, users can only send, and not receive funds via paypal.” […]

    Reply
  15. Calabar Gal Avatar
    Calabar Gal

    I sometimes Wonder what prevents or hold back the Paypal Directors as well as Visa and Mastercard operators from introducing their businesses into the Nigerian Economy. The discrimination and sometimes blatant disregard for anything remotely connected to the name ‘NIGERIA’ is so obvious. We have a very long way to go inredeeming our economy and image.

    Reply

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