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Online payment service PayPal launched in South Africa on Thursday with local partner First National Bank (FNB). South Africans can now receive funds via the service, whereas before their use was restricted to sending money.

So says Simon Dingle in his post PayPal launches in South Africa where he talks with FNB’s GM for complimentary online services Chris Savides, PayPal representatives Sara Gorman and Oded Zehavi who were in South Africa for the launch.

But this its on Twitter that we hear the juicy gossip that's got me excited:

If Phillip de Wet is right, and FNB has a pan-African or sub-Saharan deal with PayPal for more countries, we may finally see credible person-to-person ePayments in Africa and an end to Google & Paypal leaving cash on the ePayment table.

Were you excited to hear that Google now has location-aware AdWords for Kenya and South Africa? I was overjoyed that Google is paying closer attention to African consumers and content producers, until Miguel pointed out one small issue:

Getting cash in African hands

[T]here is no mention of how people from Africa are to either pay for AdWords or for content publishers to be paid for AdSense displays. As I've mentioned before, Google has no practical payment set up for anywhere in all of Sub-Saharan Africa.

Google's lack of a payment system effects more than just its own customers - it holds back the entire web development community in Africa. How can organized efforts like Coded in Country or even personal projects hire Africans if we can't pay them?

Before you suggest Paypal, realize that it too does not support payments to anyone in Sub-Sahara Africa. It even actively harasses Americans in Africa who are legitimate, long-term customers, just because of their IP address.

Opportunity in Discrimination

Where others decry the lack of ePayment services, I like to look at an empty glass as opportunity - there is a demand for ePayment systems in Africa and the company that can fill this glass will be richly rewarded. But don't take my word for it. Here is Oluniyi David Ajao describing ePayments as the biggest business opportunity in West Africa:

Note that there are some limited international systems and a few decent nationwide systems in existance. Mac-Jordan has described Ghana’s cashless society and E-zwich, and Rachel's Bargain Corner see the emerging mPayment systems like Zap and M-PESA as a Kenyan eCommerce advantage.

But its a pan-African payment system that will, like David says, really empower intra-African eCommerce and online businesses - maybe even more than the current bandwidth bonanza.

Until then, this business opportunity is leaving cash on the table. Who will be the first to grab it?

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