Nairobi, April 12 -- When over 140 players across Kenya's payments ecosystem gathered in Nairobi on March 26 for Visa Connect Kenya 2026, a clear shift came into focus. The next phase of the country's digital payments evolution will be defined not by access, but depth.

The question is no longer who can pay digitally, but how well and how often they do. Increasingly, the emphasis is on how seamlessly, securely and widely Kenyans are able to transact.

For years, Kenya has been held up as a global benchmark for digital finance, thanks largely to the rapid adoption of mobile money. But according to Visa's Vice-President and General Manager for East Africa Chad Pollock, the next chapter will be shaped by how "deeply and intelligently these s...