Determinants of Adoption of Electronic Payment Systems for Small and Medium Enterprises in Rwanda: A Case of R-Switch

Electronic Payment Systems as a form of payment, is steadily growing in usage worldwide and in Rwanda. The objective of the study, was to find out the determinants of adoption of electronic payment systems for Rwandan small and medium business enterprises with a focus on debit cards. This study used the primary data collected through questionnaires from bank managers who are in charge of the management of distribution of debit cards at banks, supermarkets tellers and online retailers, existing electronic payment systems platforms in Rwanda, regulatory authority and to individuals who use currently available debit cards during payment as the target population. The researcher then did editing and filtering to ensure the accuracy of the data input procedure, and the researcher also used coding of the answers provided to put the data into limited groups and categories. The research is mainly a qualitative research where the methodology which was used are questionnaires, and this was carried out using explorative, comparative and descriptive methods. This study sought to highlight the determinants of the adoption of electronic payment systems focusing mainly on debit cards in Rwanda, as a method of a structural analysis of the challenges faced on the usage of debit cards through the available platforms and their reliability in regular business especially for small and medium enterprises. The findings show that the major determinants of adoption of electronic payment systems are technological infrastructure and security while social and cultural influences together with the legal and regulatory frameworks dont play as much of a role. As a recommendation from the study, there is a need for the local payment switch to upgrade its capacities so that debit cards they offer can be able to be used for online purchases as this will help spur the growth of SMEs in Rwanda.