Mastercard says Africa’s digital payments economy is projected to reach $1.5 trillion by 2030, stressing that stronger cyber resilience is key to sustaining the continent’s digital growth amid increasing cyberattacks and a shortage of cybersecurity professionals.

Mastercard, in a statement made available on Monday, highlighted the need for stronger cybersecurity governance, infrastructure, skills and collaboration.

In its new white paper titled “Africa’s Digital Defense Race,” Mastercard said mobile money users grew 5.9 times between 2016 and 2025.

It added that digital banking users increased 4.7 times and e-commerce expanded 5.3 times.

It said Africa’s digital payments economy was projected to reach $1.5 trillion by 2030, underscoring the importance of protecting digital infrastructure against increasingly sophisticated cyber threats.

According to the white paper, cyberattacks across Africa increased by more than 421 per cent between 2016 and 2025, compared with 307 per cent globally.

It said Mastercard Cyber Insights recorded 69,236 cyber events targeting African organisations in 2025, equivalent to approximately one incident every eight minutes.

The report identified Nigeria, South Africa, Morocco and Kenya as countries facing distinct cybersecurity challenges linked to their digital economies, financial systems and technology infrastructure.

It noted that South Africa’s concentrated financial sector accounted for 12.6 per cent of observed cyberattacks across the continent.

The white paper also found that the technology and public and financial services sectors accounted for 44 per cent of observed cyber activity, reflecting their importance to Africa’s digital economy.

It said personal information, financial information and customer-facing services collectively represented 27 per cent of targeted assets, highlighting the need to protect businesses and consumers.

Shabir Ahmed, Mastercard’s Senior Vice-President and Customer Solutions Centre Lead for Africa, said protecting the continent’s digital growth had become a leadership priority.

“Africa’s digital growth is creating real opportunity for people and businesses across the continent, and protecting it has become a leadership priority,” Mr Ahmed said.

He said increasingly sophisticated and coordinated threats required equally coordinated responses involving governments, businesses and other stakeholders.

Mr Ahmed said Mastercard established the Africa Cybersecurity Centre of Excellence to promote intelligence sharing, knowledge exchange and the adoption of best practices between public and private sector organisations.

The white paper identified workforce development as a major opportunity, estimating that Africa had approximately 200,000 unfilled cybersecurity positions at the end of 2025.

It said the shortage represented about 23 per cent of the continent’s existing cybersecurity workforce, highlighting the need for investment in specialist training and skills development.

According to the report, the Centre of Excellence also supports organisational preparedness through scenario-based exercises that help security teams strengthen their response to potential threats.

The statement said collective action had demonstrated measurable results, citing INTERPOL’s Operation Serengeti 2.0, which recorded 1,209 arrests across 18 African countries between June and August 2025.

It added that the operation led to the recovery of $97.4 million, demonstrating the importance of cross-border cooperation in combating cybercrime.

Mastercard said it would continue working with governments, financial institutions and businesses to strengthen threat intelligence, monitor risks and improve collective cybersecurity across Africa.

The report concluded that sustained collaboration and investment in cybersecurity capabilities would be essential to securing the continent’s expanding digital economy.

(NAN)