The card terminal is getting a serious rival: the phone

Of the world’s 1.3 bn unbanked adults, about 530 mn already carry a smartphone — putting part of the digital-access challenge in a device people already use. Visa is building on that reality with new Visa Accept and Visa Direct capabilities that help smartphones do more of the work small businesses need: take payments, move money, and manage day-to-day commerce without extra hardware.

Money in: Visa Accept lets a microseller accept card payments through their Visa debit or prepaid account, using tap to pay or pay by link, with funds reaching the seller’s account in near-real time where available. That speed matters: Visa’s Global SMB Macro Trends Report found that 20% of surveyed SMBs face cashflow gaps daily or monthly. Buyers also get Visa protections whether they are paying a street vendor or a large retailer.

Money out: Visa Direct handles the other side of smartphone-based commerce, enabling fast payouts to staff, contractors, or drivers, customer refunds, incentives, and cross-border transfers to eligible cards, bank accounts, or digital wallets, subject to availability.

The scale-up: Visa Accept is already live in 25+ countries, with banking partners from Sri Lanka, Guatemala, and Vietnam, and upcoming launches in Kenya and Ghana. By 2027, Visa expects the service to be available to mns of merchants worldwide.

For Egypt — where the corner kiosk, the delivery driver, and much of the informal economy still rely heavily on cash — the message is practical: small-business acceptance does not always need to start with new hardware. Sometimes, the cash register is already in the seller’s pocket.