Square doesn’t take payments in Ghana. Here’s what does the same job.

The short answer

Square’s app can be downloaded anywhere and will ring up a sale. But Square only takes payments in eight countries: the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, Japan, France and Spain. Ghana isn’t one of them, and neither is anywhere else in Africa.

That matters more than it sounds. Much of what makes Square good, from the card readers to the payouts, is built around Square handling the money. Here it can’t, and MoMo, which is how much of Ghana pays, isn’t one of its payment methods at all.

What Square does well

Square is good at what it’s built for, and it’s worth knowing why people like it:

• it’s simple to start and pleasant to use;
• the payments and the till are one thing, so the day’s money and the day’s sales agree;
• it runs on ordinary phones and tablets;
• it has a lot for restaurants, from kitchen screens to online ordering, in the countries it serves.

What a food business in Ghana needs instead

The things that make a till work here are different:

• MoMo, properly. A prompt on the customer’s phone, and the sale closing only when the money has arrived. Not a screenshot. Mobile money shows how Tabworthy does it.
• Selling with no network. Dumsor and patchy data are normal, so every sale needs to save on the phone first. Selling offline.
• Cedis and Ghana’s taxes. VAT, NHIL and GETFund, and the Tourism Levy for licensed restaurants, each on its own line. VAT and the Tourism Levy.
• Credit. A book of who owes what, because a lot of food businesses here run on regulars who pay on Friday. Customers and credit.

Tabworthy and Square, side by side

	Square	Tabworthy
Takes payments in Ghana	No	Yes: MoMo through Paystack, and cash
MoMo prompt to the customer’s phone	No	Yes
Works with no network	Partly, for card sales where it operates	Yes, sales save on the phone first
Cedis and Ghana’s taxes	No	Yes
Built for	Sellers in eight countries	Food and drink businesses in Ghana
Maturity	Years of polish and features	New, in early access

That last row is honest. Square has had years and a huge team. Tabworthy is new, made in Accra by two founders, and opening to a first circle of food businesses a few at a time.

Where to look

If you’ve been searching for “Square in Ghana”, what you’re probably after is a till that’s simple, looks good and handles the money. Point of sale in Ghana is our page about Tabworthy as one, with a till you can try right there. If you want to compare other options too, Loyverse or Tabworthy looks at another popular free choice.