Mastercard has entered a strategic collaboration with Flowcart to embed secure, seamless card payments directly within social and conversational commerce journeys. Initially launching in Kenya, the collaboration will expand across East Africa and into key high-growth markets including South Africa, Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire, supported by broader scaling across pan-African markets.
This initiative allows consumers to discover products, place orders and complete payments within a single chat-based journey, eliminating the need to redirect users to external websites or apps. Positioned to scale rapidly across multiple regions, it accelerates the adoption of seamless, in-chat payment experiences and significantly improves payment completion rates.
This agreement represents a shift toward embedded, conversational commerce, where payments become a native part of customer engagement. WhatsApp alone now handles over 20% of all online shopping orders in the country, officially surpassing traditional e-commerce websites as conversational commerce gains dominance.
By combining Flowcart’s AI-powered commerce orchestration platform with Mastercard’s global payment network, the collaboration enables merchants to capitalize on this growing trend to increase transaction frequency, drive repeat purchases and expand acceptance into underserved and informal commerce segments.
Shehryar Ali, senior vice president and country manager for East Africa and Indian Ocean Islands at Mastercard, said: “Social commerce is redefining how consumers discover and engage with brands. Our collaboration with Flowcart enables us to embed secure, seamless payments directly into these experiences, unlocking new growth opportunities for merchants and expanding digital payment acceptance in one of Africa’s fastest-growing digital economies.”
The solution is designed to support Kenya’s rapidly growing creator economy, empowering social sellers to monetize their audience directly within the platforms where they engage them. By enabling a complete “chat-to-pay” loop, from discovery to repeat purchase, the agreement removes friction and helps merchants increase conversion rates. Payments are completed within the conversation using embedded links, QR codes or native checkout flows powered by Mastercard Gateway and its network of acquiring partners. As part of Mastercard’s Merchant Cloud portfolio, Mastercard Gateway enables merchants to simplify payment acceptance through a single connection, streamline operations, and create secure, seamless commerce experiences across markets and channels.
Ananth Gudipati, Founder at Flowcart, said: “We are excited to collaborate with Mastercard to transform how businesses transact in social channels, whether that’s an independent social seller, a fast-growing SME or a large enterprise brand running WhatsApp as a core commerce channel. Together, we are enabling a future where commerce and payments happen seamlessly within conversations, driving higher conversion, repeat purchases and meaningful growth for merchants.”
For consumers, the initiative provides a secure and intuitive in-chat payment experience, while tokenized card details ensure frictionless repeat purchases. For merchants, from small social sellers to large enterprises, it simplifies digital commerce without requiring websites or traditional point-of-sale systems. This addresses a critical market need, as the 2026 Mastercard SME Confidence Index revealed, 80% of Kenyan SMEs identify simple, seamless and user-friendly payment methods as a top requirement for future growth. The platform also integrates with existing commerce systems, supporting businesses of all sizes.
This initiative strengthens cooperation across the digital ecosystem, bringing together acquirers, fintechs, mobile network operators and commerce platforms to drive financial inclusion. By digitizing informal and creator-led commerce, Mastercard and Flowcart are positioning social and messaging platforms as a dependable, end-to-end channel for digital payments and long-term customer growth.
