Bypassing Payment Gateways: How Direct Bank APIs Unlock E-commerce in Tanzania

Emerging markets like Tanzania face a persistent e-commerce barrier: expensive payment gateways designed for the global North often make local transactions uneconomical. This case demonstrates that direct integration with local banking APIs can solve this problem—reducing transaction fees by 80% while improving fraud protection. For companies serving these regions, the key insight is clear: custom engineering against local infrastructure is often more sustainable than relying on expensive global intermediaries.