South Africa’s leading payment gateway provider Payfast has undergone a major rebrand. Having joined forces with PayGate and SiD under Network International, the company has created a new home for its consolidated offering. With a renewed focus on enabling growth – for the brand, its merchants, and the broader ecommerce industry – this milestone represents a new era in the payments industry.
“By combining the capabilities of three of South Africa’s biggest ecommerce players under one powerful entity, we have strengthened our ability to deliver on our promise to partners – which is to do everything we can to unleash their growth potential. We’ve created an environment where some of the industry’s top minds can share ideas and work together towards innovation in the payments sector,” says Brendon Williamson, Managing Director at Payfast.
The rebrand, including a fresh logo and colour palette, was revealed at an exclusive media roundtable event, held on 17 January. Williamson led the conversation with Chris Wood, Regional Managing Director, Southern Africa and PALOPS at Network International, unpacking the potential of the partnership, as well as the companies’ combined mission and focus.
“This is more than just a cosmetic change, it’s a major step in the merging of industry giants. By creating a unified brand and legal entity that everyone we’ve brought together will associate with, both internally and externally, we will solidify a single vision to take us forward as a business. At an industry level, the partnership enables us to ensure that local ecommerce remains on par with international trends,” says Williamson.
Operationally, the newly rebranded Payfast promises merchants a better, more advanced experience. This will give merchants peace of mind that they are dealing with a single legal entity, without losing the comfort of dealing with familiar products and systems from the Payfast, Paygate and SiD teams day-to-day. Looking ahead, the company plans to leverage the skills, technology, and ideas of the combined workforce to boost ecommerce opportunities and capabilities for their merchants.
The Covid-19 pandemic forced the world to take a quantum leap into the digital future. In 2022, online retail passed the R50-billion milestone. “From the growth of ecommerce and cashless transactions, to the rise of digital nomads, the world has evolved. Similarly, the Payfast brand has had to evolve. We are driven by change that has already taken place in the industry, to push further innovation for the future,” says Williamson.
As part of the rebrand, the company’s official website has changed to payfast.io. The io. domain has become synonymous with technology, innovation, and disruption – signalling the company’s reinvestment in refining payments technology.
