Cross‑border trade within Africa long suffered from cumbersome payment processes, dependence on foreign currency, high fees, and delay risks. The launch of the Digital Retail Payments Platform (DRPP) by COMESA — the regional bloc covering 21 member states — marks a major step toward simplifying intra-bloc payments.
The DRPP promises local‑currency cross‑border settlement, lower fees, and faster transfers — changes which could transform how businesses, especially SMEs, operate across Eastern and Southern Africa. At the same time, realities such as rollout phase, uneven adoption, and persistent global trade needs mean businesses still benefit from flexible multi‑currency platforms. This is where a solution like Kanzum becomes strategically important.
This guide explores the DRPP initiative, its opportunities and limitations, and how exporters, importers, and regional traders can build a hybrid payments strategy combining regional rails with flexible multi‑currency infrastructure.
What Is COMESA’s Digital Payments Platform (DRPP)?
Purpose and Scope
The COMESA Clearing House (CCH) launched the DRPP in October 2025, aiming to enable cross‑border payments across COMESA member states directly in local currencies — eliminating the need to convert into hard currencies such as USD or EUR.
The initiative targets especially micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which constitute about 80 % of businesses and 60 % of employment across the bloc.
The DRPP is designed to provide:
- Instant or near‑real‑time cross-border settlement in local currencies.
- Interoperability across banks, mobile‑money operators, fintechs and digital financial services — letting users transact irrespective of their preferred payment channel.
- Transaction costs capped at under 3 % of transaction value, significantly lower than typical cross-border fees in Africa.
The first live pilot corridor under DRPP connects Malawi and Zambia.
Why the DRPP Matters: Opportunities for Cross‑Border Trade and Businesses
Lower Transaction Costs and Reduced Currency Risk
Historically, intra‑African trade often required converting local currency into hard currency (e.g. USD), routing through correspondent banks, then reconverting into another local currency — a process that adds cost and exposes businesses to currency volatility.
DRPP eliminates this multi-step conversion: trades between member states can be settled directly in local currencies. This significantly reduces transaction costs, currency risk, and dependence on scarce foreign exchange.
For SMEs operating on tight margins, the ability to transact under 3 % cost is a potential game-changer.
Faster, More Inclusive Payments — Empowering SMEs and Retail Cross‑Border Trade
With instant or near‑instant settlement and interoperability across banks, fintechs, and mobile‑money operators, DRPP promises to make cross-border transactions as frictionless as domestic payments.
This opens new opportunities for smaller businesses, informal traders, and retail merchants who previously faced high barriers to regional trade — from high costs to lack of foreign exchange access.
By removing foreign currency dependence, DRPP could unlock significant trade flows, especially among SMEs and cross-border traders.
Supporting Regional Integration and Trade Under Broader Frameworks
The launch of DRPP represents a structural step toward deeper regional financial integration. By enabling local‑currency settlement, COMESA advances the goal of reducing dollar dependence, smoothing intra‑African trade, and building financial infrastructure suited to African currencies.
For businesses operating under regional trade agreements — supply‑chain operators, B2B traders, exporters to neighboring countries — DRPP can serve as a foundational tool for scaling operations across the bloc.
Practical Limitations and Market Realities — Why DRPP Is Not a Plug‑and‑Play Solution
While DRPP is promising, several factors mean that businesses should consider it as part of a hybrid payments strategy rather than a sole solution.
Rollout Phase and Limited Coverage
As of now, DRPP is still in pilot phase, with the first corridor between Malawi and Zambia.
Other member states still need to integrate their banking, mobile‑money and foreign exchange infrastructure. Wider coverage across COMESA’s 21 countries will take time, meaning many corridors remain outside DRPP’s reach for the foreseeable future.
Infrastructure, Liquidity and FX Conversion Constraints
Even once infrastructure is in place, achieving smooth cross‑currency conversions and liquidity across multiple national currencies can be challenging. Some currency pairs may have limited interbank liquidity, or local FX tightness may limit large-value transactions.
This limitation is especially relevant for businesses dealing with high volumes or cross-currency trade involving non‑COMESA countries.
Global Trade, Hard Currency Needs, and Diverse Payment Rails
Many exporters still deal with clients or suppliers outside COMESA — in Europe, Asia, Americas — who pay in USD, EUR, or GBP. DRPP, being local‑currency focused, does not address global trade flows or hard‑currency invoicing needs.
Additionally, businesses may still need to support traditional banking, global wire transfers, or multi-currency payouts beyond the COMESA ecosystem.
Regulatory Diversity and Compliance Complexity
While DRPP aims for interoperability, member states still have different regulatory frameworks, FX controls, and compliance requirements. These variances can impact usability, especially for cross-border trade involving multiple jurisdictions.
SMEs operating across several countries may still face compliance overhead, FX exposure, and administrative burden until full harmonization is achieved.
How Kanzum Complements COMESA’s DRPP: A Hybrid Payment Strategy
Given both the promise and limitations of DRPP, a hybrid payments architecture—combining DRPP where available with a flexible multi-currency payment platform—offers the most realistic path forward for businesses.
Multi-Currency Capabilities Beyond Local‑Currency Settlement
Kanzum enables businesses to collect payments in major global currencies (USD, EUR, GBP) from international clients, while disbursing payments in local African currencies or COMESA local currencies when needed.
This flexibility is critical when clients and suppliers span COMESA and non-COMESA markets, or when hard-currency invoicing remains standard.
Transparent FX Conversion, Hedging, and Risk Management
With real-time FX conversion and transparent exchange rates, Kanzum helps mitigate FX risk and hidden spreads. This is valuable in corridors not yet covered by DRPP, or when dealing with global clients and suppliers.
If DRPP is not yet available for a given corridor, or liquidity is shallow, businesses can fallback to multi-currency payout via Kanzum, avoiding delays and uncertainty.
Hybrid Rail Integration and Operational Continuity
Kanzum supports a mix of payout rails — bank transfers, mobile money, local and regional payment systems — enabling businesses to reach suppliers and partners regardless of local infrastructure or DRPP availability.
This hybrid model ensures operational resilience: if DRPP rails are not yet live in a country, or foreign currency is required, businesses can continue operations without interruption.
Compliance, Documentation, and Audit‑Readiness
Kanzum provides built-in compliance workflows (KYC/AML, sanctions screening), audit-ready reporting, and multi-currency account management.
For SMEs operating across COMESA and globally, this simplifies regulatory compliance and reduces administrative burden — particularly useful where local regulations remain fragmented.
What Businesses Should Do to Prepare — Practical Recommendations
To make the most of DRPP’s launch and future expansion, while safeguarding operations through flexibility, exporters, importers and regional traders should consider the following best practices:
- Map trade corridors and currencies. For each trading partner, list country, currency, payment rail status (DRPP, bank, mobile money, etc.), and whether business involves hard-currency or local‑currency flows.
- Adopt a hybrid payment strategy. Use DRPP for intra‑COMESA local‑currency trades where available; rely on multi‑currency platforms like Kanzum for global trades or non‑covered corridors.
- Maintain FX flexibility. Retain ability to receive and hold hard-currency payments while disbursing in local currencies — ideal for supply chains spanning Africa and global partners.
- Build compliance and audit infrastructure. Ensure clear documentation, KYC, AML compliance across jurisdictions to avoid delays or regulatory issues.
- Leverage batch payments and payout automation. Especially when dealing with multiple suppliers across countries — automation reduces operational overhead and errors.
- Monitor platforms’ coverage and liquidity. As DRPP rollout progresses, stay updated on which corridors are live, and adapt payment flows accordingly.
FAQ
What is COMESA’s DRPP and how does it work?
The COMESA Digital Retail Payments Platform (DRPP) is a regional payment rail launched in 2025 by COMESA Clearing House. It allows cross‑border payments among COMESA member states directly in local currencies, using interoperable rails spanning banks, fintechs, and mobile‑money providers.
Which countries can use DRPP now?
As of the initial launch, the pilot corridor connecting Malawi and Zambia is active. Broader rollout across all 21 COMESA member states is planned, but full coverage will take time.
What are the main benefits for SMEs and small traders?
Lower transaction costs (target under 3 %), reduced currency conversion needs, faster settlement, access to regional trade without hard-currency dependence, and interoperability across payment rails for greater inclusion.
Why do businesses still need multi‑currency platforms like Kanzum if DRPP exists?
Because DRPP coverage remains limited and many businesses still operate globally or across non‑COMESA corridors. Multi‑currency platforms provide flexibility: they support hard‑currency inflows, payouts in various currencies, foreign trade outside COMESA, and liquidity management when DRPP rails are unavailable or not liquid.
What is the recommended payment strategy during DRPP rollout?
A hybrid approach: use DRPP for intra‑COMESA local‑currency payments when available; fallback to multi‑currency rails for global trade, non‑covered corridors or when foreign currency invoicing is required. Maintain FX flexibility, compliance readiness, and liquidity diversification.
Conclusion
The launch of COMESA’s Digital Retail Payments Platform represents a major step toward integrated, inclusive, and efficient regional trade. By enabling local‑currency, real-time cross-border payments at reduced cost, DRPP has the potential to democratize regional commerce — especially for SMEs, traders, and micro-businesses previously excluded from formal cross-border payments.
However, given that rollout is still in early stages, and recognizing the realities of global trade, hard-currency invoicing, and cross‑corridor diversity, businesses should not rely solely on DRPP.
Combining DRPP where available with a flexible multi‑currency payments solution like Kanzum offers the best of both worlds: access to local‑currency rails, global reach, FX flexibility, compliance infrastructure, and operational resilience.
For exporters, importers, SMEs, and regional B2B traders, adopting such a hybrid payment architecture is not merely an option — it is a strategic investment in scalability, risk mitigation, and long-term growth.