The Indian fintech is seeking approvals to turn Android smartphones into contactless payment terminals for Zimbabwean merchants, with the country positioned as a springboard for wider African expansion.
Viyona Fintech is preparing to take its Tap and Pay product beyond India, using Zimbabwe as the first market in a planned push into sub-Saharan Africa. The Hyderabad-based company, which is certified by the National Payments Corporation of India as a technology service provider, said it is in talks with the Zimbabwean government as it looks to introduce the contactless payment system to local merchants and financial institutions.
According to the company, the launch would centre on an NFC-based SoftPOS model, short for software point of sale, which converts an ordinary Android smartphone into a payment terminal. That approach removes the need for dedicated card readers and is aimed at small businesses that want to accept card payments without paying for additional hardware. Viyona says the product will be rolled out once the relevant network certifications and local approvals are secured.
The company is entering a market where digital payments are already gaining scale. In a statement carried by local and industry-focused publications, Viyona pointed to Zimbabwe’s rising use of electronic payments and said the country could serve as a test market for wider regional expansion. Technology for You reported that the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe is also in discussions to licence India’s Unified Payments Interface as a national payment rail, a development that could make interoperability with Indian-style payment systems more practical. The same report said Africa’s digital finance ecosystem processed about $2 trillion in transaction value across 64 billion transactions in 2024.
Zimbabwe already has several contactless and digital payment offerings in the market. CBZ Bank has introduced a Tap and Pay service for its debit card holders on its own point-of-sale terminals, while other local players, including Yazi Pay and TapCard, are also targeting card, QR and mobile-payment use cases. That suggests Viyona will enter a market that is already experimenting with cashless transactions, even as many merchants continue to rely on low-cost, simple payment tools.
Viyona says its wider platform has handled more than 500 million transactions and works with more than 200 partners. The company is also positioning the move as part of a broader effort to adapt its payment infrastructure for international markets, with the Zimbabwe rollout likely to be a template for future expansion if regulatory approvals are granted.
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