For decades, small, medium, and micro enterprises (SMEs) in emerging markets were caught in a "financial limbo." Too small to meet the complex requirements of traditional corporate banking and too informal to qualify for standard credit lines, these businesses operated in the margins of the formal economy. They were vital yet invisible, lacking access to basic tools such as dedicated business accounts, corporate cards, and, mostly, formal credit lines.

This is not a niche problem. SMEs represent 99.5% of all businesses in Latin America and 95% in Sub-Saharan Africa—a higher concentration than the 90% global average reported by the World Bank. They are the engine of employment, often accounting for 60% or more of the working population. In Brazil alone, the formal microentrepreneur population grew by 19% in 2025 to nearly 17 million, while Colombia has 2.4 million small businesses formally registered.

Despite this economic weight, legacy banks have historically overlooked this segment. According to the World Bank, 40% of SMEs in developing countries grapple with access to finance, a figure that jumps to 50% in Sub-Saharan Africa.

This gap in access has served as a significant hurdle for B2B e-commerce. Without digital financial infrastructure, these businesses were effectively locked out of the digital economy. Every hallmark of modern business, including paying suppliers online, subscribing to essential software, purchasing inventory via e-commerce, or investing in digital advertising, requires access to digital financial rails. In the simplest terms: without financial inclusion, there can be no digital B2B commerce.

The shift began with a consumer revolution. Digital platforms, such as neobanks and wallets, had to establish trust with consumers. Nubank, Brazil’s largest digital bank, serves over 100 million customers, Nequi, a leading digital wallet in Colombia, has more than 25 million users,Yape dominates mobile payments in Peru with 18 million users, and OPay, a major fintech and super app in Nigeria, holds over 50 million accounts. 

Now, this base of trust provided the technical architecture and brand loyalty necessary to bring businesses and the informal economy into the fold.

These platforms offer free business accounts with minimal bureaucracy, app-based balance management, tailored investment options with daily liquidity, and corporate cards (primarily debit).

For Juliana Etcheverry, Country Growth Director for South LatAm at EBANX, the B2B evolution of wallets like Nequi and Yape is emerging as one of the most transformative trends in emerging markets. “The massive SME segment generally operates informally with limited access to banking. These wallets bridge the gap by offering instant payments and microloans directly on mobile. They have lower barriers to entry. Once you have adoption within the base, for P2P, you can enable it for B2B. This has a huge impact on unlocking digital supply chains, offering lower transaction fees, and acting as a catalyst for the overall economic health of the markets", Etcheverry says.  

To bridge the physical and digital divide, many provide integrated point-of-sale (POS) terminals for card acceptance—such as Mercado Pago in Latin America and MoneyPoint in Nigeria—alongside universal QR code payments, which have become a cornerstone of trade in Southeast Asia. 

“SMEs are the highest employers of labor, but they find it difficult to access credit from traditional banks. Fintechs like OPay, FairMoney, and Moniepoint are leading the payment journey in Nigeria by providing multiple business and payment solutions, including POS for merchant payments and agency banking, credit, and inventory management solutions to aid record keeping,” says David Nwosu, Nigeria Country Manager at EBANX.

Some players go even deeper into operational efficiency: Nequi, for instance, which today reaches 60% of the Colombian adult population and whose digital wallet became synonymous with payments in the country, offers a payroll service allowing SMEs to pay employees directly within the app.

In Brazil, the financial inclusion of businesses, much like that of consumers, received a significant boost with the launch of Pix in late 2020. Between December that year and December 2022, the number of business accounts opened doubled.

As of 2025, more than 22 million companies have conducted Pix transactions, marking a 41% growth since early 2024. Data from the Central Bank also shows that the number of companies using Pix in digital banks is more than double that of those in traditional banks.

Although B2B payments constitute a small fraction of the total Pix transaction volume, they account for nearly half of the total value transacted, underscoring their importance for business operations.

According to the Central Bank of Brazil, the number of active relationships between corporate entities and digital banks increased from fewer than 3 million to 9.2 million. During the same period, the top five traditional banks experienced a collective loss of approximately 6% of their corporate client base, and now have less clients than digital institutions. The Central Bank further reports that 40% of companies exclusively maintain accounts with a digital bank.

When it comes to small-sized businesses, however, this trend is intensified. More than 40% of Brazilian solo entrepreneurs now hold their primary account with a digital institution, compared to just 15% of medium-sized companies, according to a study by Oliver Wyman Consulting.

As Maximiliano Damian Rodrigues, General Manager at Nubank Empresas, notes, fintechs have become the great drivers of inclusion because they live where the entrepreneurs are: in their phones. With 5 million business accounts in Brazil, Nubank and its peers are proving that a smartphone and an internet connection can replace a physical branch.

“Anyone with access to a smartphone and an internet connection has all the financial services that matter in their pocket with Nu,” he says. Nubank doesn't charge maintenance fees to companies, and neither do Pix fees (Pix is free of charge for individual users, but businesses can incur fees from their banks). “All the money that would traditionally be spent on bank fees now stays in the business and can be reinvested as the entrepreneur wishes,” adds Rodrigues.

With the adoption of digital accounts, SMEs began to generate consistent financial and payment histories. This transactional data has become an essential input for credit assessment models, replacing traditional requirements such as formal guarantees, long banking relationships, or physical documentation.

According to a study by Mastercard, 78% of interviewed SME companies in Latin America said that accepting digital payments has improved access to credit. 

Tiffani Montez, Principal Analyst at EMARKETER, suggests that by narrowing the credit gap where legacy systems have failed, fintechs are turning inclusion into "Latin America’s next strategic advantage in digital finance."

Nequi, for example, reports that 68% of its credit disbursements go to users with little or no previous credit history, and that 3.8 million people use the platform to manage their business funds.

“Our goal is to move towards a comprehensive solution that combines contextual credit, protection, day-to-day management, and financial guidance. By using real business data, we can offer products that are much more tailored to a company's reality and stage in the business lifecycle,” informs Nequi. “We're not just looking for people to manage their personal money, but also to be able to grow their businesses. We want entrepreneurs to have control, clarity, and more opportunities.”

Access to credit changes the role of SMEs in e-commerce. These businesses are no longer only payment receivers. Now, they can become active B2B buyers, using digital balances and credit lines to purchase inventory, software, logistics services, and advertising. Financial access, therefore, converts into purchasing capacity.

This shift is already reflected in e-commerce adoption, whether buying or selling online. OECD data shows consistent SME participation in digital commerce across Latin America, with special highlights to Brazil. In the country, micro and small enterprises increased online sales by 1,200% between 2019 and 2024, reaching USD 2.4 billion, according to the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry, Trade and Services.

Today, according to PCMI, most of the B2B e-commerce volume is within the SaaS vertical, where almost 60% of the estimated revenue across emerging markets comes from B2B customers. Second is Social Media, with 53%, and then Online Education, with 21%. 

In terms of market size, online retail and travel also have significant B2B volume, ahead of Social Media.

Once again, digital players have been fundamental in pushing e-commerce adoption of businesses. An analysis of internal EBANX data on purchases made by companies using cards in Brazil shows that, of the 10 issuers with the highest sales, 6 are 100% digital.  

As SMEs gain access to digital accounts and payment methods, their presence on digital procurement channels expands accordingly.

However, global vendors must realize that this newfound inclusion does not immediately translate into access to high-limit corporate credit cards. In Colombia, for example, only 14.5% of companies have one, according to official statistics.

Even when a corporate card is issued, the initial credit limits are often conservative, reflecting the business's nascent credit history and small size. This means that wallets and neobanks primarily facilitate account-to-account (A2A) transactions. Limiting B2B payments to credit cards risks rebuilding the very wall of exclusion that digitalization was supposed to tear down.

For the newly included SME buyer, alternative payment methods (APMs) are the primary gateway. As Leandro Carmo, Country Growth Director for Brazil at EBANX, explains, Pix is the essential tool for the entrepreneur without card infrastructure, while Boleto, Brazil's 30-year-old cash voucher, remains a powerhouse because it fits into existing procurement and reconciliation flows. 

EBANX internal data reinforces this trend: since launch, Pix purchases by companies have grown consistently, with transaction value more than doubling in 2025, while Boleto transactions have maintained a steady 34% annual growth rate since 2020.

Pix B2B growth is largely driven by very small companies. Micro-businesses account for 79% of the companies that paid with the instant transfer on EBANX merchants, and 48% of them identify as individual entrepreneurs. Usage patterns, however, differ from those observed in B2C. While Pix often becomes the dominant or exclusive payment method for individual consumers, its role in B2B is more complementary. Only 15% of Brazilian B2B buyers paid exclusively with Pix, compared to 83% in B2C.

Most Pix B2B purchases at EBANX are related to software, while higher transaction volumes are concentrated in retail and travel.

In Colombia, alternative methods such as Nequi, Efecty (cash voucher), and PSE (account-to-account) represent 53% of EBANX's B2B merchant sales. In Mexico, OXXO, Mercado Pago, and SPEI account for roughly half of B2B revenue. In both countries, local card payments remain relevant in B2B commerce, particularly debit cards, which represent about 40% of card-based B2B sales.

The APM-first paradigm for B2B commerce is also applicable in Africa: 67% of Nigerian SMEs prefer bank transfers, according to a GSMA report. Meanwhile, in Kenya, 61% favor mobile money, and not by chance. M-PESA, the main provider in the country, registered a 18.4% growth in revenue in their business unity. 

In Egypt,where over 70% of companies still prefer cash, Fawry has used its massive cash collection network to bring businesses into the banking fold, with merchant services now representing 17% of its revenue. Their supply chain solutions divisionrecorded a 39% revenue growth in 2025. It focuses on the digitization of B2B transactions and payments across supply chains, addressing inefficiencies in order management, settlement, and cash flow for businesses.

Across markets, online sales for small businesses should structurally be led by alternative payment methods, rather than solely focusing on credit cards. Financial inclusion, when built on multiple payment rails, is what makes B2B e-commerce viable at scale in emerging markets.

As it happened with consumers, digital wallets and neobanks have become the primary engines of financial and digital inclusion for SMEs in emerging markets. By providing a single platform for payment acceptance, cash management, and credit, they are turning millions of micro-entrepreneurs from informal sellers into B2B e-commerce buyers, bypassing the rigid constraints of traditional banking and democratizing access to the global digital economy.

By accepting digital payments, building a transactional history, and using those funds to pay a global supplier, entrepreneurs are no longer just surviving. They are participating and dictating the global digital economy. With this, fintechs and digital wallets are digitizing payments, but also redefining who can be a player in international trade.