Payment Links and QR Codes: The Secret Sauce for MSME Growth in Africa

QR code payments are reshaping how African MSMEs transact: adoption has surged from 28 percent in 2022 to nearly 45 percent in 2024, driven by cost savings, simplicity, and contactless convenience. Merchants leveraging Payaza’s Payment Links and integrated QR-generation tool can create branded, secure codes in seconds, boosting completed checkouts by 12 percent on average and cutting reconciliation errors by up to 70 percent.

Over the past two years, QR code payments have leapt from a niche novelty to a mainstream channel for African small businesses. According to a recent NASSCOM-commissioned study, 45 percent of surveyed MSMEs now accept QR-based checkouts, up from 28 percent in 2022. This rapid uptake is propelled by three forces:

1. Contactless Safety: In a post-pandemic world, health-conscious customers prefer tap-and-go solutions.
2. Lower Costs: Static QR codes sidestep expensive hardware fees—terminal-free transactions reduce processing costs by up to 70 percent relative to chip-and-pin terminals.
3. Simplified Reconciliation: Digital records tied to each QR scan eliminate manual entry errors, slashing reconciliation time by more than two-thirds.

Businesses report tangible uplifts once their QR payments go live. A cross-industry analysis finds a 12 percent bump in checkout completion when customers scan rather than type URLs or account details. Furthermore, with global QR-payment revenues projected to exceed $67 billion by year-end, Africa’s share is poised for dramatic expansion as national standards, like Ethiopia’s unified QR mandate, come online.

While many platforms require third-party tools to generate and manage QR codes, Payaza integrates this capability natively into your merchant dashboard:

• One-Click QR Generation: Instantly transform any existing Payment Link into a static or dynamic QR, no extra software needed.
• Branding at Point-of-Sale: Embed your logo and custom messaging to reinforce trust and professionalism as customers scan.
• Branch-Level Insights: Track scans, settlements, and revenue per QR across multiple outlets for granular financial visibility when you use Branches.
• Security by Design: Each QR payload is encrypted end-to-end, adhering to PCI-DSS standards to minimize fraud risk.

Getting Started in Minutes

1. Log in to your Payaza merchant portal.
2. Navigate to Collections → Payment Links.
3. Select an existing link or create a new one.
4. Click “Generate QR”, choose your styling, and export.
5. Display on printed flyers, digital screens, or embed on your website.

Within moments, your business can accept frictionless, contactless payments—no hardware, no hassle.

As QR code payments continue to outpace traditional methods, early adopters are capturing new revenue, delighting customers, and optimizing back-office workflows. Payaza’s built-in QR-generation tool can be the “secret sauce” behind your next growth wave.

Ready to ditch manual-entry errors and boost conversions? Log in to Payaza now, generate your first branded QR codes in under 60 seconds, and join the 45 percent of African MSMEs already thriving on QR payments.