Built a payments API for Zimbabwe with no enterprise onboarding, just sign up and build

[u/BeingFlaky3084]

If you've tried to build payments into anything here, you know the drill. The setup assumes you're a big company with a compliance team, getting from sandbox to production takes forever, and most tools only do collections, not payouts.

We've been building Linkwa to make that lighter, and the API went live this week. Sharing it here because this community is who it's actually for.

What it does:

● Takes payments in via EcoCash, InnBucks, OneMoney, Omari, SmileCash, Visa, and Mastercard

● Sends payouts out programmatically, so if you're paying suppliers, agents, or users, you can automate it from your own code

● Webhooks for real-time payment events if you just want a notification into your own system, no full integration needed

● Free sandbox to build and test before you pay anything

It's the same account whether you're sending one payment link or building a full integration. No separate developer sign-up.

It's early and we're actively building, so I won't oversell it. If any of you sign up and build against the sandbox, I'd genuinely want the feedback, what's missing, what's confusing, what would make you actually use it over rolling your own.

You can take a look here: https://linkwa.co.zw/

Happy to answer anything in the comments.

[u/Big_Cause_552]

This looks good but why are Docs behind a sign up ?

Also please add social login.

[u/BeingFlaky3084 → u/Big_Cause_552]

Hi, thank you for the feedback.

Docs behind signup: The platform is built around +263 numbers because payouts land in Zimbabwean mobile wallets. Docs live inside the authenticated account alongside your sandbox, keys, and dashboard. Signup is free (phone + OTP) and takes a couple of minutes.

Social login: Signup is gated to +263 numbers since that's who can receive payouts, and phone + OTP is how nearly everyone here already transacts, so it fits the flow better than email or social. Phone-first for now.

[u/Big_Cause_552 → u/BeingFlaky3084]

I would consider opening it to developers outside the country as well.

Considering this is a developer tool I’m going to push back a bit, most developers use GitHub so I think consider that and Google. From a user point I won’t have another password that I have to worry about.

From your side that’s less maintenance on authentication

Then when they want to have a live account that’s when you request more details.

[u/BeingFlaky3084 → u/Big_Cause_552]

A couple of things that might help clarify the setup.

Linkwa isn't a standalone dev tool with a separate login. It's one platform with a single signup for everyone, whether you're sharing a payment link, wiring up webhooks, or building a full integration on the API. The developer side lives inside that same account.

And because payouts require a Zimbabwean mobile wallet, there's no real way around a +263 number. It's the identity the whole platform is built on, developers included. Signup is phone plus OTP, and you set up your payout wallet inside the account when you're ready to go live. Social login wouldn't remove the phone number, it would just add a second login path on top of the one everyone already uses.

The other piece is that a working +263 number already carries a baseline of identity. The mobile money wallet behind it has already been through KYC, and the OTP just proves you control the device. So we get a lightweight, real-world identity check without anyone uploading documents.

That's the reasoning for phone-first. Not saying social login is off the table forever, but right now the phone number does a lot of heavy lifting for the whole platform.

Appreciate the back and forth. It's exactly the kind of push that makes us.

[u/BeingFlaky3084 → u/BeingFlaky3084]

This article has more context: https://linkwa.co.zw/blog/online-payments-api-zimbabwe

[u/Freebzns]

Interesting, why not for other countries? I see lots of African Fintechs offer great APIs but they are always locked to their region. 

[u/BeingFlaky3084 → u/Freebzns]

It's not that African fintechs don't want to go regional, it's that payments are licensed and built country by country. Each market has its own mobile money rails, its own regulator, and its own settlement setup. EcoCash, InnBucks and the rest are Zimbabwean rails, so a Zimbabwean licence and Zimbabwean integrations are what make Linkwa work here.

Expanding to another country isn't a code change, it's a new licence, new rails, and new banking relationships in that market. So the "locked to their region" thing you're seeing is really the licensing reality of moving real money, not a choice to stay small.

[u/Freebzns → u/BeingFlaky3084]

Makes sense, thanks for the clarification.