Caliza, a US-based cross-border payments and treasury platform, announces a partnership with Yala, the Trade Desk for manufacturers, service businesses, and distributors expanding across Africa. Under the agreement, Yala will use Caliza's infrastructure to support settlement with international suppliers across multiple corridors, with stablecoin infrastructure used within Caliza's underlying settlement process. 

About Yala

Yala is the Trade Desk for manufacturers and distributors expanding across Africa. Yala helps these businesses collect local currency payments, find and manage distributors, and access intelligence on new markets. With Yala, manufacturers and suppliers can quickly expand into new markets through local distributor networks without entering each market to build that capability. 

As Yala works with more businesses trading across Africa and with the rest of the world, those transactions increasingly span different currencies, countries, and banking systems. Manufacturers may need to receive payments from distributors in one market, distributors may need to pay suppliers in another, and service businesses may need to collect from customers across several countries. Supporting that activity reliably requires infrastructure that can move money across markets without Yala having to build and manage multiple partners across different corridors.

International trade has been growing consistently on the African continent, and the numbers make that clear. Africa's total merchandise trade grew about 14% in 2024 and reached US$ 1.5 trillion. Looking ahead, the World Bank projects that the AfCFTA, the continental free trade area, could increase exports by up to 81% by 2035. And much of that growth is driven by small and medium-sized companies, which represent around 80% of the continent's businesses and account for half of its GDP.

As more African businesses trade across Africa and with the rest of the world, the infrastructure to support those transactions needs to make it easier for them to buy from and sell to businesses in other markets.

A Partner for Paying Suppliers and Manufacturers from Africa

As Yala expanded the infrastructure supporting cross-border trade for its customers, the company partnered with Caliza.Caliza integrates into Yala's ecosystem to provide a solution that brings dedicated USD virtual accounts, along with a complete dashboard for managing and monitoring all transactions for businesses trading across borders.

In practice, Caliza handles the international settlements to the supplier, with conversion between stablecoins and fiat currencies built into its processing infrastructure. Through the partnership, payments reach suppliers in countries like  China, the United States, India, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, and France.

The integration allows Yala to focus on connecting manufacturers/suppliers to distributors within and outside Africa, with Caliza’s fully automated ledger processes providing greater control and visibility to the team. 

"African businesses move global trade every day, but they still face barriers to accessing the dollar. Our partnership with Yala shows what happens when that barrier falls. A payment that used to pass through several intermediaries is now funded in stablecoin and settled with the supplier in a single flow,"

says Ezra Kebrab, CEO of Caliza.

"The businesses we work with are trading across Africa and with suppliers around the world. As Yala grows, we need infrastructure that can support those transactions reliably across more markets without us having to build every connection ourselves. Caliza gives us another piece of that infrastructure, while we stay focused on helping manufacturers and distributors trade and grow across Africa,"

‍says Babatunde Adebajo, Co-founder and CEO of Yala.

The partnership expands Caliza's presence in payment corridors between Africa and the rest of the world, while giving Yala additional infrastructure to support businesses trading across international markets. For Caliza, it is another step in building its global settlement network. For Yala, it supports a broader ambition: building the Trade Desk manufacturers and distributors can use to trade and grow across Africa.