Episode 152 - How Citi, Visa, and Cellulant Are Transforming B2B Payments in Kenya With Citi Optimized Pay

Last week, I had the pleasure of sitting down at the Visa Innovation Studio in Nairobi 🇰🇪 with three exceptional leaders—Olivia Etyang’ from Visa 💳, Evans Toroitich from Citi 🏦, and Catherine Wangechi from Cellulant 🔗—to unpack one of the most exciting fintech collaborations I’ve come across in a long time.Together, these three premier organizations have launched Citi Optimized Pay 🚀—a bold and timely solution aimed at addressing one of the most persistent problems facing businesses in Kenya and beyond: the working capital gap in supply chains 💸.💼 Why Citi Optimized Pay MattersAccording to the IFC, Kenya’s supply chain finance gap is estimated at over $25 billion—a staggering 25% of our GDP 📉. The challenge? Suppliers—especially SMEs—often wait 60 to 90 days to get paid after delivering goods or services 📦. Meanwhile, large corporate buyers typically want to delay payments to manage their own cash flow 🕒. The result is a working capital stalemate that can cripple smaller businesses 🧱.Citi Optimized Pay bridges that gap by allowing corporate buyers to use their commercial cards to pay suppliers early via a secure, seamless, and flexible platform 🔐 built on Visa’s infrastructure and powered by Cellulant’s Tingg payment gateway 💡.🌍 A Game-Changer Born in NairobiWhat I found especially compelling is that this wasn’t some imported idea from New York or London 🌎. Citi Optimized Pay was co-created right here at the Visa Innovation Studio in Nairobi—the only one of its kind in Africa 🌍—and it was built with local insights from SMEs, suppliers, and enterprise buyers 🧠.As Olivia Etyang’ explained, the space was designed to foster innovation by enabling partners to co-create real-world solutions that address the needs of African markets. Citi Optimized Pay is the latest fruit of that vision 🌱.🔧 How It WorksEvans Toroitich broke it down brilliantly during the podcast: Citi issues virtual commercial cards to its corporate clients 💳. These clients upload approved supplier invoices to the platform 📤, and suppliers are then notified and given the option to get paid early—either via bank transfer or mobile money 📲—without needing expensive card infrastructure 🏦.Suppliers effectively leverage the buyer’s creditworthiness to access fast, reliable cash flow 💰, while buyers benefit from extended payment terms and digitized accounts payable processes 🧾. It's truly a win-win ✅.🔄 Cellulant's Role: Orchestrating Seamless PayoutsFrom Catherine Wangechi’s perspective, this platform is a culmination of years of building a Pan-African payments infrastructure 🌐. Tingg provides suppliers with multiple payout options, enabling them to receive funds via M-PESA, bank transfers, and soon, even directly onto cards 💸.The platform also minimizes overhead and cuts out the bureaucracy typically associated with SME financing 🧾. No trips to the bank. No endless paperwork. Just a simple, verified, and secure digital journey from invoice upload to funds disbursement 📈.📦 Designed for Scale—Across Sectors and MarketsOne of the most exciting things we discussed was the future potential of Citi Optimized Pay 🔮. What started as a solution for sectors like FMCG, travel, and manufacturing is already showing promise in areas like logistics, agriculture, and financial services 🚛🌾💼.With Cellulant’s presence in over 20 African markets, and Visa’s global infrastructure, this solution is poised for continental scale 🗺️. And Citi brings the supply chain finance expertise that anchors the entire offering ⚙️.🕰️ Why Is This Happening Now?The answer is simple: Kenya is a hotbed of fintech innovation, and the ecosystem is ready 🔥. As Olivia put it, “We have the tech. We have the appetite. We have the need.” 💻📲Add to that the fact that this is one of the few corporate-focused platforms truly designed to uplift SMEs—and you have a transformative tool that could unlock massive economic value 💼📊.