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Uber has resumed accepting Visa cards for rides in <a href="https://technext24.com/news/uber-drivers-call-off-strike-in-kenya/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Kenya</a>, eight months after dropping the option over rising payment costs. The reversal comes just two days after the company shut down its operations entirely in Nigeria and Uganda on 2 September.<a href="https://x.com/moneyacademyke/status/2096123665356099833?s=46" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Riders in Kenya began seeing a prompt in the app</a> on 4 September inviting them to add a Visa card, with Visa now listed alongside Mastercard, M-Pesa, Airtel Money and PayPal.<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img width="588" height="390" src="https://technext24.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/images-33.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-290554"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"> Credit: Soko directory </figcaption></figure>Uber had removed Visa as a payment method in Kenya in January, citing rising global payment costs, and has not said what changed to bring it back.<h2 id="why-uber-dropped-visa-in-the-first-place" class="wp-block-heading">Why Uber dropped Visa in the first place</h2>An Uber spokesperson told reporters in January that the company “regularly reviews payment methods on a market-by-market basis” to manage costs. Card transactions typically cost merchants between 1.5% and 3.5% per payment, split between the issuing bank, the card network and the payment processor. The January change affected only Visa in Kenya; Mastercard, PayPal, M-Pesa, Airtel Money and cash continued working throughout.Visa said at the time it was working with the e-hailing company to resolve the block, though neither company gave a timeline. Uber has not disclosed whether Visa’s processing fees changed, or whether transactions are now routed through a different processor, ahead of the reinstatement.Also read: <a href="https://technext24.com/news/uber-bolt-ordered-to-raise-fares-kenya/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Kenyan authorities order Uber and Bolt to raise fares by 50% following drivers’ protest</a><h2 id="ubers-week-of-opposite-moves" class="wp-block-heading">Uber’s week of opposite moves</h2>The <a href="https://technext24.com/news/uber-rollout-electric-bikes-south-africa/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Kenya reversal</a> sits against a very different decision two days earlier. Uber closed its ride-hailing operations in Nigeria and Uganda on 2 September, saying the decision was limited to those two markets and would not affect operations elsewhere on the continent.The company has not linked the Kenya and Nigeria/Uganda decisions publicly, and both moves come as it pursues a broader global restructuring that will cut about 3,300 corporate jobs, roughly 10% of its workforce, its largest round of cuts since the Covid-19 pandemic.<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img width="588" height="330" src="https://technext24.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/images-34.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-290553"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"> Credit: Techpoint </figcaption></figure>Chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi also revealed that the restructuring is aimed at reducing management layers and simplifying team structures, alongside plans to shrink fully remote roles to about 1% of its workforce globally.For Nigerian riders and drivers affected by the September 2 shutdown, Uber has not indicated whether any of the cost-management changes seen in Kenya — including the Visa reinstatement — factored into its decision to leave the Nigerian market altogether.

Uber restores Visa payments in Kenya two days after exiting Nigeria and Uganda

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