CashAfrica, a provider of contactless payment infrastructure, has partnered with quick-service restaurant chain Chicken Republic to extend mobile tap-to-pay transactions to more than 350 outlets, deepening its push to expand contactless payments in Nigeria.
The partnership builds on CashAfrica’s earlier integration with PalmPay POS, announced in 2026, which enables compatible mobile tap-to-pay transactions through existing payment terminals. The new arrangement connects that infrastructure to Chicken Republic’s retail network, potentially giving banks and fintechs using CashAfrica’s application programming interface (API) services access to a wider base of merchants accepting mobile contactless payments.
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The development comes as payment providers seek to make digital transactions more convenient for consumers and merchants, while reducing dependence on the manual steps associated with some existing payment methods.
Under the arrangement, banks and fintechs that rely on CashAfrica’s APIs for tap-to-pay transactions can facilitate compatible payments at Chicken Republic outlets. The company says its technology supports iOS and Android devices and is designed to process contactless payments in approximately one second.
“This is a strategic partnership to take Mobile Tap-to-pay mainstream, while delivering the best-in-class payment experience,” Malik Asamu, chief executive officer of CashAfrica, said.
Asamu said the partnership adds another payment option to the channels already available to Nigerian users and merchants, including bank transfers, cards, QR codes and cash.
By extending its technology into a high-footfall restaurant network, CashAfrica is pursuing a distribution strategy that places contactless payments within consumers’ everyday spending rather than limiting adoption to specialised payment environments.
Chicken Republic’s more than 350 outlets provide a potential testing ground for the technology across multiple retail locations. However, the scale of the rollout does not by itself establish how many customers will use the service or how frequently transactions will occur.
The commercial significance of the partnership will therefore depend on consumer adoption, merchant readiness and the number of banks and fintechs that activate the service for their customers.
The PalmPay POS integration is also important because it points to an approach that leverages existing payment terminals instead of requiring merchants to deploy an entirely separate collection infrastructure. Reusing compatible terminals could lower barriers to acceptance, although the actual cost savings and implementation requirements were not disclosed.
For merchants, contactless payments could shorten checkout times and offer another way to collect payments. For payment providers, the arrangement creates an opportunity to extend their services through an established restaurant network without having to build a comparable physical footprint themselves.
CashAfrica’s technology is designed to complete transactions in approximately one second, but actual payment times may depend on device compatibility, terminal configuration, connectivity and the participating payment provider.
The expansion also highlights the distinction between making contactless technology available and achieving widespread adoption. Although a large retail network can improve access, sustained use will depend on whether customers have compatible devices, whether their financial service providers support the transactions and whether the payment experience is reliable enough to encourage repeat use.
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CashAfrica did not disclose the financial terms of the partnership, expected transaction volumes, the number of participating banks and fintechs, or a timeline for broader expansion beyond Chicken Republic’s outlets.
The latest agreement nevertheless extends the company’s effort to connect payment infrastructure with everyday retail activity, following its PalmPay POS integration. Whether that strategy translates into meaningful growth in mobile tap-to-pay usage will depend on the number of transactions generated across the network and the pace at which participating financial institutions bring the service to their customers.
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Royal Ibeh is a senior journalist with years of experience reporting on Nigeria’s technology and health sectors. She currently covers the Technology and Health beats for BusinessDay newspaper, where she writes in-depth stories on digital innovation, telecom infrastructure, healthcare systems, and public health policies.
