Deputy President Paul Mashatile has held productive discussions with senior Visa executives during the ongoing Business 20 (B20) Summit in Pretoria, reinforcing bilateral ties aimed at bolstering South Africa’s digital economy. The meeting, which took place on 20 November at OR Tambo House, involved Tareq Muhmood, Visa’s Regional President for Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, alongside Bobby Thomson, Senior Vice President and Global Head of Government Affairs, and their delegation.
Mashatile conveyed appreciation for Visa’s steadfast backing of local infrastructure upgrades and digital ecosystem enhancements, initiatives poised to drive substantial economic progress and long-term viability. According to Reuters, this engagement underscores Visa’s broader continental strategy, highlighted by the July 2025 inauguration of its inaugural African data centre in Johannesburg – a R1 billion ($57 million) commitment over three years that forms part of a $1 billion pan-African investment announced in 2022 to foster fintech innovation and financial inclusion.
The data centre, the first of its kind on the continent, integrates into Visa’s global VisaNet network, which processes over 100 billion transactions yearly across more than 200 countries. By localising processing, it promises faster, more secure payments, reduced latency, and compliance with data sovereignty regulations, while paving the way for advancements like AI-enhanced fraud detection and generative AI services. As reported by Data Center Dynamics, the facility not only cuts reliance on overseas hubs in the US, UK, and Singapore but also positions South Africa as a launchpad for Visa’s expansion into emerging markets, where Africa’s digital payments sector is projected to hit $1.5 trillion by 2030, per a Mastercard-commissioned Genesis Analytics study.
Mashatile emphasised the government’s openness to fresh investment ideas and its dedication to deepening collaborations that amplify inflows into the nation. He spotlighted Visa’s role in domesticating transaction handling, fortifying payment reliability, and advancing tools such as digital wallets. Crucially, this partnership is set to uplift small and medium-sized enterprises, invigorate township-based commerce, and foster youth empowerment via specialised training and mentorship schemes.
The conversation wrapped with Mashatile inviting the Visa team to the forthcoming 2026 South Africa Investment Conference in March, framing it as a prime venue to scout additional synergies that could yield mutual gains for the company, the economy, and particularly young South Africans navigating high unemployment rates above 40 per cent.
Held under the banner of ‘Inclusive Growth and Shared Prosperity through Global Cooperation’, the B20 Summit – concluding on 20 November – represents a landmark for Africa as the continent’s first hosting of this G20 engagement group. As detailed by the B20 South Africa official site, the three-day gathering at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg convened business titans, policymakers, and stakeholders to distil recommendations from eight task forces spanning employment, trade, energy transitions, digital shifts, integrity, finance, sustainable agriculture, and industrial innovation. Key emphases included harnessing Africa’s youthful demographic as an asset for equitable progress, amplifying women’s roles in business, and bridging Global South-North divides to influence the impending G20 Summit on 22-23 November.
This forum, which channels private-sector insights to G20 agendas – where members account for 85 per cent of global GDP – amplifies South Africa’s presidency priorities of debt relief, sustainable development, and African advancement. Outcomes are expected to propel actionable policies on climate resilience, food security, and digital equity, setting the stage for transformative pacts that could unlock billions in investments and jobs across the continent.