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Analysis on African markets
24 published articles in this view, tagged by country and sector. See all articles
African Wealthtech Needs to Admit It Is a Currency Hedge, Not a Wealth Builder
PiggyVest has over 7 million users. Cowrywise passed 800,000. Bamboo and Risevest have built credible retail US stock access. The marketing language across the category is about building wealth, long-term compounding, and financial independence. Our view is that this framing does not match what customers actually do. African wealthtech is, in practice, a currency hedge. Admitting that would produce better products for customers and better businesses for operators.
Nigeria · Financial Services Julaya: The BCEAO-Licensed B2B Payment Platform Rebuilding Francophone West African Finance
Julaya was founded to solve a specific problem in Cote d'Ivoire: why African businesses could not process B2B payments digitally at the scale their operations required. By 2025 the company had received a BCEAO electronic money institution license, becoming one of the first private-sector operators to do so under the updated framework. This is the story of how a small Abidjan-based team built regulated B2B payment infrastructure in a market most pan-African fintechs had been ignoring.
Côte d'Ivoire · Financial Services Mobile Money Agent Economics Are Quietly Breaking
Mobile money in Africa runs on a foundation of approximately 300,000 M-Pesa agents, several hundred thousand more across Nigerian operators, and uncounted thousands more across the continent. Practitioners inside the sector have started to whisper about something industry reports do not yet capture: the agent economics that made mobile money work are quietly deteriorating. If this pattern holds, the consequences for African digital finance are significant.
Kenya · Financial Services Yellow Card: Building the B2B Stablecoin Infrastructure Layer for African Corporates
Yellow Card operates in approximately 20 African countries providing stablecoin on-ramps and off-ramps to businesses that cannot access US dollars through their commercial banks. While most African crypto coverage focuses on retail speculation, Yellow Card built a B2B corporate treasury infrastructure business that serves the real operational need of African companies during a foreign exchange shortage era. This is the story of how the company positioned itself at the center of that need.
Nigeria · Financial Services The African Remittance Cost War Is Already Over. Wise Won.
LemFi, Nala, Sendwave, Chipper Cash, and a dozen other African diaspora remittance operators compete fiercely for market share. The RemitSCOPE average cost for Sub-Saharan African remittances was 8.2 percent in Q1 2025. Our view is that this cost war has already been settled at the infrastructure layer, and the winner is Wise. The African operators are competing over the retail presentation of rails they do not actually own.
Nigeria · Financial Services African BNPL Has a Retail Margin Problem Nobody Wants to Name
The African BNPL market is projected to grow to USD 16.8 billion by 2031. The growth projections assume that African BNPL operators can earn the same kind of margins their American and European counterparts do. Our view, shared by several founders who have built and scaled BNPL operations in African markets, is that those unit economics will not work on the continent without structural changes to the business model. Here is why.
Kenya · Financial Services Francophone West African Fintech Is the Next Wave. It Is Already Starting.
English-language African fintech coverage has been dominated for a decade by Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa. Francophone West Africa barely appears. Our view is that this is a lagging indicator. The Wave, Julaya, Chari, and the BCEAO-licensed cohort of operators are building what will be the next major African fintech story. If you are reading African fintech coverage in English and not hearing these names, you are missing the wave that is already rolling in.
Senegal · Financial Services Turaco: Building Microinsurance at the Bottom of the Pyramid
Turaco was founded to solve a specific problem: how to provide affordable insurance to low-income customers who had never been served by traditional insurers. By late 2025, the Kenya-based insurtech had reached over one million customers across multiple African markets. The distribution model is what made it work, and the lessons carry for any African fintech thinking about how to reach underserved customers profitably.
Kenya · Financial Services The USD 330 Billion African SME Credit Gap Is the Wrong Number to Chase
The USD 330 billion African SME credit gap is the most-cited statistic in African fintech. Development finance institutions quote it in every pitch deck. Our view is that the number, while technically correct, has become a trap. It leads operators to build products that address the wrong segment of the gap, and it leads investors to fund business models that cannot close it. Here is the gap we should be talking about instead.
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