VISA EXPANDS PRESENCE IN EAST AFRICA WITH NEW OFFICE IN TANZANIA

Visa’s General Manager for Southern and Eastern Africa, Michael Berner (right), presents a gift to the Governor of the Bank of Tanzania, Emmanuel Tutuba, during the inauguration ceremony of the company’s office held in Dar es Salaam on July 16, 2025.

The Governor of the Bank of Tanzania, Emmanuel Tutuba (right), and Visa’s General Manager for Southern and Eastern Africa, Michael Berner (left), arrive at the venue to attend the inauguration ceremony of the company’s office held in Dar es Salaam on July 16, 2025.

Visa Day event held to mark crucial regional growth milestone

Dar es Salaam, 16 July 2025 - Visa (NYSE: V), a global leader in digital payments has officially opened its new office in Tanzania, marking a significant milestone in its commitment to advancing financial inclusion and digital transformation across East Africa.

The announcement coincided with the inaugural Visa Day Tanzania, event themed “Shaping the Future of Payments in Tanzania”, held in Dar es Salaam.

The new office will serve as a regional hub, supporting operations in Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, and Rwanda, and will be led by recently appointed Country Manager Victor Makere, a Tanzanian national with deep expertise in the region’s financial landscape. 

“Tanzania is one of the most dynamic and promising markets in Africa when it comes to digital payments,” said Michael Berner, Head of Southern and Eastern Africa at Visa. “With increasing mobile and internet penetration, a vibrant SME sector, and a strong push for financial inclusion, we see tremendous opportunity to partner with local stakeholders to shape a more inclusive and innovative payments ecosystem.” 

Visa Day Tanzania 2025 brought together key stakeholders from across the financial services industry, including regulators, banks, fintechs, mobile network operators, and development partners. 

The event, which was graced by Emmanuel Mpawe Tutuba, Governor, Bank of Tanzania, featured high-level discussions on the evolution of payments, the role of partnerships, and Visa’s latest innovations in consumer and commercial payment solutions as well as value added services (VAS).

The event also highlighted Visa’s recent Value of Acceptance study, which underscores the economic and social benefits of digital payments in Tanzania. Through its expanded presence, Visa aims to deepen its engagement with local partners and accelerate the adoption of secure, seamless, and inclusive payment technologies.

• Government partnerships: Supporting digital transformation in public services, including government collections.
• Tourism enablement: Facilitating online visa payments and digitizing access to national parks and travel insurance in Zanzibar. 
• Agricultural inclusion: Digitizing payments for smallholder farmers and fishers—who make up over 50% of the workforce and contribute 27% to GDP.
• Security and innovation: Enabling tokenization and working with fintechs and banks to ensure secure, next-generation payments. 
• Financial Inclusion: Partnership with ACCOSCA, the Pan-African confederation of national associations of savings and credit cooperatives societies to advance digital financial inclusion in Kenya and Tanzania—especially for women, youth, and underserved communities.
• Expanding Access Through Mobile Wallet Integration: Partnership with Vodacom Tanzania for the M-PESA Visa virtual card, directly linked to users’ M-PESA wallets, enabling them to make secure online payments to both local and international merchants within Visa’s vast global network—without the need for a traditional bank account

About Visa

Visa (NYSE: V) is a world leader in digital payments, facilitating transactions between consumers, merchants, financial institutions and government entities across more than 200 countries and territories. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, convenient, reliable and secure payments network, enabling individuals, businesses and economies to thrive. We believe that economies that include everyone everywhere, uplift everyone everywhere and see access as foundational to the future of money movement. Learn more at Visa.com.

Media Contact

Bryan Wesonga

bwesonga@visa.com