Nearpays became the first African startup to win the AI ​​for Good Innovation Factory world final, held on July 9, 2026 during the International Telecommunication Union summit in Geneva.

The competition lasted for a year, starting with twelve companies and concluding with an audience of investors, researchers, founders, and public officials connected to technology and development.

The official prize was $20. Musician and entrepreneur will.i.am, invited as a judge, added another $20 to each of the three finalists, and the Nigerian company walked away with $40. The amount increases the startup's financial capacity, but the main economic interest lies in reducing the cost of entry for small-scale merchants.

Nearpays presents SoftPOS as an alternative to traditional terminals. The merchant uses a mobile phone with near-field communication, installs the application, and accepts payments without buying or maintaining a separate machine.

The global distinction recognizes the proposal, although expansion depends on the network, national regulations, user trust, and the ability to operate securely in different African markets.

The core of Nearpays' solution is SoftPOS, short for software-based point of sale. Instead of connecting an external reader, the merchant uses the NFC capability of the mobile phone to receive a contactless payment. The customer brings the card close to the mobile phone and the application conducts the operation through the financial infrastructure to process, authorize and record the transaction.

Reducing the size of the equipment doesn't eliminate the requirements. The phone needs to be NFC compatible, the merchant needs a network connection, and the service is subject to banking regulations, customer identification, and national rules. The advantage lies in leveraging an existing device and reducing expenses, maintenance, and reliance on third-party machines.

Artificial intelligence emerges in a second layer. Transaction data can support operations, generate business insights, and feed a tax engine designed to automate tax returns, calculate obligations, and reduce overcharges.

The existing information, however, does not clarify in which countries this function is already linked to tax authorities or at what stage the integration is. This limitation requires caution because an automated tax system depends on up-to-date rules, accurate data, and institutional coordination.

A misclassification error can alter taxes and create risks for businesses with limited accounting capabilities. The tool should support the merchant, but it cannot replace the responsibility for filing, reviewing values, or obtaining validation from the relevant authorities.

In payments, records can aggregate sales by device, employee, or establishment, allowing for quick tracking of revenue. The platform includes a dashboard to monitor transactions and manage teams. For mobile sellers, delivery drivers, and neighborhood stores, mobility can be as important as price because the point of payment follows the merchant.

The economic impact begins with access. A terminal requires acquisition, distribution, maintenance, and replacement when it fails. By shifting this cost to a program installed on a mobile phone, Nearpays seeks to make electronic payment acceptance viable for merchants with low margins. Savings vary depending on commissions, data prices, and partner terms.

In Nigeria, the growth in payments demonstrates the size of the market, but does not eliminate obstacles. The Central Bank recorded 2,94 million PoS terminals installed in the first half of 2024, 20 percent more than in the previous semester. Owning a machine does not guarantee continuous operation, coverage, or affordable costs for small businesses.

Financial inclusion in Nigeria reached 74 percent in 2023, compared to 68 percent in 2020. This progress was driven primarily by non-banking services. SoftPOS can further enhance the everyday use of accounts because it transforms formal access into a concrete ability to sell, receive payments, and maintain a financial history, without requiring each merchant to purchase a machine.

This can reduce another barrier: accounting invisibility. Businesses that only receive cash payments leave little data about their revenue. By generating records, the merchant can present information to banks, insurance companies, or suppliers. The benefit is not automatic because credit and insurance depend on criteria, but the data improves the basis for decision-making.

For African markets, the proposal allows for expansion with less equipment, but it doesn't offer a universal solution. Mobile phones without NFC, unstable networks, limited literacy, and tax regimes reduce adoption. The prize provides capital to the company; the test will be expanding the commercial network, maintaining transactions, and confirming cost reductions outside of the pilot projects.

Nearpays' victory in Geneva places an African company at the center of a practical discussion about artificial intelligence: the technology creates value when it reduces a specific expense or improves a daily operation.

In this case, the mobile phone ceases to serve only for communication and begins to replace part of the billing infrastructure required of small merchants, especially in markets where dedicated equipment remains expensive.

The prize and the $40 grant strengthen the startup's expansion capacity, but do not resolve the risks of scaling. Adoption will depend on compatible devices, stable networks, trust, oversight, and verifiable tax integration.

If these conditions are met at a low cost, SoftPOS could digitize sales, create a financial history, and bring informal businesses closer to formal services in Africa without requiring a new machine for each merchant.