Caliza and Yala partner to simplify international supplier payments for African businesses using robust cross-border payments and stablecoin infrastructure.
Under the partnership, Yala will use Caliza’s cross-border payments and treasury infrastructure, including stablecoin-based settlement rails, to support supplier payments across international corridors. Caliza will provide dedicated USD virtual accounts and transaction-management tools, while handling the international settlement process.
The integration is designed to remove some of the complexity businesses face when payments move between different currencies, banking systems and countries.
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Expanding Cross-Border Payments in Africa
Yala helps manufacturers and distributors expand across Africa by connecting them with local distributor networks, collecting payments in local currencies and providing market intelligence.
As those businesses expand, their payment needs become more complex. A manufacturer may collect money from a distributor in one African market and then need to pay a supplier in China, the US, India, South Korea, the UAE or France.
With Caliza integrated into Yala’s platform, those international settlements can be handled without Yala having to build separate payment connections for every corridor.
Caliza provides USD virtual accounts and a transaction dashboard, while its infrastructure handles conversion between stablecoins and fiat currencies as part of the settlement process.
The partnership comes as African companies increasingly look beyond their domestic markets for customers, suppliers and distribution partners.
Infrastructure for Regional Trade
The World Bank estimates that full implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) could increase intra-African exports by 81% by 2035 compared with the baseline scenario.
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The bank has also identified trade costs, customs delays, logistics and fragmented systems as significant barriers to deeper regional integration. That means the ability to move money across borders efficiently becomes part of the infrastructure businesses need to take advantage of larger regional markets.
Caliza uses stablecoins as part of its underlying payment infrastructure rather than requiring Yala’s customers to manage crypto themselves. According to Caliza, the process allows payments to be funded through stablecoin infrastructure and settled with suppliers in fiat currencies.
Ezra Kebrab, CEO of Caliza, said the partnership addresses the difficulty African businesses can face when accessing dollars for international transactions.
"African businesses move global trade every day, but they still face barriers to accessing the dollar. Our partnership with Yala shows what happens when that barrier falls. A payment that used to pass through several intermediaries is now funded in stablecoin and settled with the supplier in a single flow," Ezra Kebrab, CEO, Caliza
Babatunde Adebajo, co-founder and CEO of Yala, said the infrastructure allows the company to support more markets without building individual payment connections for each one.
"The businesses we work with are trading across Africa and with suppliers around the world. As Yala grows, we need infrastructure that can support those transactions reliably across more markets without us having to build every connection ourselves. Caliza gives us another piece of that infrastructure, while we stay focused on helping manufacturers and distributors trade and grow across Africa," Babatunde Adebajo, Co-founder and CEO, Yala
Why it Matters to African Startups
For African fintech and trade-tech startups, the deal highlights a growing infrastructure opportunity around cross-border settlement. As manufacturers and distributors expand across the continent, they need more than marketplaces and distributor networks.
They also need payment infrastructure that can handle multiple currencies, international suppliers and different banking systems without forcing each business to build those connections itself.
For Yala, Caliza provides that settlement layer while it focuses on helping businesses find distributors and enter new African markets. For Caliza, the partnership adds another route into Africa’s growing cross-border commerce ecosystem.
Engagement
