Mastercard has successfully onboarded all its employees in Nigeria onto the Virtual Privacy Academy (VPA), the flagship training platform of the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC).
The milestone, announced this week, highlights Mastercard’s commitment to data privacy, regulatory compliance, and digital trust, while advancing its wider goal of embedding responsible data practices across Africa’s fast-growing digital economy.
The Virtual Privacy Academy was developed by NDPC to equip professionals with practical knowledge on personal data governance, lawful processing, cybersecurity hygiene, and emerging regulatory obligations. The program draws directly from the Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDPA) 2023 and the General Application and Implementation Directive (GAID) 2025, distilling complex legal frameworks into accessible, locally relevant training modules for employees across all sectors.
The urgency of such training is clear. According to NDPC, data breach incidents in Nigeria surged by 64% in the first quarter of 2023 alone, while the commission investigated over 213 privacy breaches between 2023 and 2024. These rising numbers underscore the critical need for companies to invest in data protection awareness and compliance.
“Privacy is not just a compliance requirement; it’s a core pillar of digital trust. By enrolling all our Nigerian staff in the NDPC Virtual Privacy Academy, we are embedding privacy awareness into the fabric of our operations and supporting Nigeria’s digital rights agenda,” said Mark Elliott, Division President for Africa at Mastercard.
Echoing this, Derek Ho, Deputy Chief Privacy, AI and Data Responsibility Officer at Mastercard, noted: “The Virtual Privacy Academy represents a landmark opportunity to scale privacy knowledge in a way that is both practical and impactful. Our collaboration with NDPC is equipping professionals with the tools to make ethical, informed decisions that protect individuals while enabling innovation.”
For the NDPC, the Mastercard partnership demonstrates how public-private collaboration can help deepen Nigeria’s data protection culture. “We are proud to work with Mastercard to deliver real-world solutions that strengthen Nigeria’s data protection ecosystem. The Virtual Privacy Academy will play a critical role in empowering professionals with the knowledge and confidence to uphold ethical data practices in a rapidly evolving digital world,” said Dr. Vincent Olatunji, National Commissioner/CEO of the NDPC.
Following the successful onboarding of its staff in Nigeria, Mastercard said it will extend access to the VPA to its vendors and suppliers, in line with NDPC’s third-party compliance guidelines. This next phase aims to build a holistic culture of data protection within the wider digital payments ecosystem.
The initiative builds on Mastercard’s ongoing collaboration with regulators, professionals, fintechs, and MSMEs to foster a secure and trusted digital environment. The company has consistently emphasized that strong data governance and privacy practices are not only regulatory necessities but also economic enablers that can unlock Africa’s $1.5 trillion digital payments potential by 2030.
By investing in privacy education at scale, Mastercard is positioning itself as a leader in responsible innovation, ensuring that as Africa’s digital economy expands, it does so on the foundation of trust, security, and ethical data practices.
