• Nigerian companies including LemFi, Kuda, Moniepoint and Fidelity Bank expand UK operations.
• Major boost to Northwest economy as Zenith Bank opens new Manchester branch.
• Twinings Ovaltine opens £24 million Lagos manufacturing facility, as President Tinubu heads to the UK for historic State Visit this week.

Hundreds of new jobs are set to be created as Nigerian banks, fintech innovators and creative industry businesses scale up their operations in Britain.

The move will see millions invested, reinforcing the UK’s position as a leading global business hub, backed by world‑class talent, strong access to capital, and a stable regulatory environment – while showcasing Nigeria’s expanding role as a key source of innovation and investment into the UK, growing both economies.

UK’s Twinings Ovaltine has launched a £24 million manufacturing facility in Lagos, its first in Africa, creating over 100 direct jobs and boosting the company’s exports across West Africa.

It comes as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Mr. Bola Ahmed Tinubu, accompanied by the First Lady, Mrs. Oluremi Tinubu, are set to commence an historic State Visit on Wednesday, 18th March, strengthening the UK’s position as a global hub for African business.

Thanks to the UK’s Trade and Industrial Strategies, combined with commitments made through the UK-Nigeria Enhanced Trade and Investment Partnership (ETIP), the government is attracting investment into key growth sectors including financial services, technology, education and advanced manufacturing.

The Deputy Prime Minister held an ETIP reception yesterday at Kensington Palace, bringing together 180 senior representatives from government and industry to celebrate the breadth, depth, and continued growth of our trade relationship across priority sectors including financial services, education, creative industries, infrastructure and technology.

The UK’s Trade Envoy to Nigeria, Florence Eshalomi, also addressed the group.

Peter Kyle, business and trade secretary said:

“The UK and Nigeria share a belief in the power of enterprise, innovation and education to transform lives, and today’s commitments show exactly that. With Nigerian firms creating jobs across the UK and British businesses expanding into one of the world’s fastest growing markets, our partnership is strengthening both economies and delivering real benefits for people in both countries.”

David Lammy, deputy Prime Minister said:

“The UK and Nigeria’s Strategic Partnership is bringing momentum and opportunity to innovators in both our countries. We are reducing barriers, creating jobs and opening new pathways for growth. Growth is the core mission of this government, and it underpins our relationship with Nigeria. I am deeply proud that the cultural and commercial bonds between our nations are thriving and that both our businesses and people are feeling the benefits of that.”

Zenith Bank, one of Nigeria’s largest financial institutions, opens its Manchester branch today, Tuesday 17 March, with the capacity to create up to 30 new direct jobs in a boost for the Northwest economy.

The bank is also exploring a 2027 London Stock Exchange listing to deepen its UK market presence and unlock long-term funding for UK-Africa growth.

Fidelity Bank’s acquisition and rebrand of Union Bank UK into FidBank UK with plans to double its 62‑person workforce in 2026 and add new capital, while the Fidelity Group makes London its global hub. FCMB has also selected the UK as the first international destination for its digital cross border payments platform, boosting trade and investment flows between Africa and the rest of the world. Seven Nigerian banks now operate in the UK, supporting at least 1,000 jobs in total.

Dame Dr. Adaora Umeoji, group managing Director/CEO, Zenith Bank PLC said:

“The United Kingdom remains a key global financial centre. The opening of Zenith Bank, Manchester, therefore, marks another important milestone in our international expansion strategy, enabling us to deepen relationships with our customers, support trade and investments, and connect businesses between Africa and the UK more effectively.”

 Nigerian fintech investment is also accelerating rapidly:

• LemFi will invest £100 million over the next five years as it designates London its global headquarters.
• Moniepoint plans to grow its London based team to 100 employees in 2026, building the infrastructure that supports millions of African users worldwide.
• Kuda Bank is strengthening its UK headquarters as the base for global expansion and plans to double its UK footprint in 2026.

The UK’s reputation as a global creative capital also continues to deepen ties through:

• EbonyLife, one of Nigeria’s leading creative industry brands, will launch EbonyLife Place London, creating up to 40 new jobs and strengthening the UK’s role as a home for African storytelling and creative talent.
• The SCALE Creative Entrepreneur Award Programme, developed by the British Council and supported by the Department for Business and Trade, will support young Nigerian and UK creative entrepreneurs to grow internationally and build lasting ties to benefit both the UK and Nigerian creative economies.’
• The UK Advertising Exports Group will announce a strategic partnership with the Nigerian advertising sector. This will include a UK-Nigeria Advertising Summit taking place later this year and a talent exchange scheme which will deepen bilateral engagement.
• The British Council and the Federal Ministry of Art, Culture, Tourism and Creative Economy in Nigeria, will deliver the UK/Nigeria Season of Culture in 2028, involving a range of innovative initiatives and events designed by UK and Nigeria creative organisations.
• A Creative Industries Roundtable at Lancaster House will bring together alumni, Chevening scholars and creative leaders from both countries.

The following British businesses are also set to benefit thanks to:

• Twining’s Ovaltine launching a £24 million manufacturing facility in Lagos, its first in Africa, creating over 100 direct jobs and boosting the company’s exports across West Africa.
• British fintech Wise will receive approval for its first Nigerian licence, enabling it to expand in a remittances market valued at up to £39.9 million.
• The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), which was set up with UK Support in 2011, has signed an agreement with Asset Green Ltd to explore a largescale integrated dairy project that will strengthen Nigeria’s dairy value chain, reduce reliance on imports and improve nutrition.

Leading UK universities are also expanding into Nigeria, helping train the next generation of Nigerian and British scientists, technologists and innovators.

Nigeria is a key education partner and a priority country for the UK’s International Education Strategy. for instance, the University of Birmingham and the University of Lagos have signed a new agreement to deliver programmes in Applied AI, Digital Communications and Global Surgery.

The LSE has launched a new Data Science partnership with Nile University of Nigeria alongside the University of the West of England opening a dedicated office in Lagos.

Wellington College International Lagos will open in 2027, offering places for 1,500 students – becoming one of West Africa’s flagship British curriculum schools.

EStars, a UK‑owned educational esports and technology company, will partner with the Lagos State Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education to deliver esports‑based digital learning programmes to around three million students.

Speaking on the morning show, she highlighted how Fintech companies like LemFi are enabling seamless cross-border payments, making it easier for Nigerians in the diaspora to support loved ones, fund businesses, buy Nigerian goods and services, and actively participate in the local economy, particularly during peak periods like Detty December.

According to Simisola who spoke to Nigeria’s national Tv on the 29th of December,

“Detty December is more than just a festive season, it is a powerful economic driver. But for Nigeria to fully harness moments like this and remain economically ready for the future, we must build payment systems holistically. It’s not enough to focus on what users see; the back end is the engine that powers trust, efficiency, and scale. If we want to attract global spending and diaspora inflows, we must audit our processes and do things right.”

Her remarks underscore a major shift in how money moves during the festive season. Gone are the days when visitors had to carry bundles of cash simply because they were returning home often putting their safety at risk.

Today, secure cross-border payment solutions are accelerating the move toward a cashless economy while enabling people to support families, invest in local businesses, boost tourism, and contribute meaningfully to Nigeria’s broader economic growth.

Simisola is the Growth Marketing Lead at LemFi UK, where she drives brand growth, user acquisition, and market visibility across the United Kingdom.

Through strategic partnerships with influential UK-based communities such as NIUK, MASANG, and other African-led networks, she has played a key role in expanding LemFi’s reach and trust, contributing significantly to the company’s multi-million-dollar growth.

Beyond her corporate role, Simisola is deeply committed to supporting young people in tech. She is passionate about exposing young people to the breadth of opportunities within the tech ecosystem, encouraging them to build digital skills, explore diverse career paths, and stay ahead of emerging trends in an ever-evolving technological landscape.

This commitment has led her to speak at several schools and institutions across both the UK and Nigeria. Most notably, at Northumbria University, Newcastle, Simisola was invited as a guest speaker at an impactful Black History Month Careers Workshop, where she shared practical, real-world insights from her own journey.

Alongside other accomplished professionals, she offered students guidance on building careers in tech, marketing, and the global fintech space, leaving attendees inspired by her story, achievements, and the clear, actionable pathways she outlined for building future-ready careers.

Beyond speaking and mentorship, Simisola is also passionate about supporting early-stage startups. One such company is Ikubari, a tech and AI-driven platform focused on bridging the gap between content creators, visual storytellers, and users.

Simisola played a key role in shaping Ikubari’s growth and marketing strategy, support that helped the startup gain acceptance into the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Accelerator Program, a globally recognised initiative that provides early-stage companies with cloud credits, technical support, mentorship, and access to AWS infrastructure to accelerate innovation and scale.

Her impact further extends to grassroots mentorship. Simisola actively mentors students at SEBOL High School in Ibadan, introducing them to technology in practical, engaging ways. Through this work, she continues to inspire young people to view technology as a powerful pathway to opportunity, creativity, and global relevance.

In recognition of her contributions to the tech and marketing ecosystem, Simisola Haastrup is a recipient of the Marketing Tech Leader of the Year 2025 award from the Nigerian tech and Innovation award and the Digital Marketing Award at the Lagos Entrepreneurs Awards. These honours underscore her impact as a growth leader, mentor, and advocate for innovation across borders.

But then here we are in 2026, with global cross-border payments now worth well over $190 trillion a year, and the average transfer still slower and more expensive than it has any right to be.

The irony is hard to miss. You can hire a developer in Nairobi before lunch, ship goods from Shenzhen by evening, and sign a contract over WhatsApp. 

But paying that same developer, supplier, or student on time can still take days, sometimes weeks, with fees stacked along the way.

We’ve seen founders plan cash flow around bank delays, and freelancers price in losses before the money even moves. That issue shows up in rent, inventory, and missed deadlines.

What is changing is not the need to move money, but who is fixing the situation. Banks are still arguing about processes built in the 1970s. The fintechs that are indispensable in 2026 are not arguing, they are rerouting, cutting out steps, locking rates upfront, settling in minutes instead of days, and building for people whose lives already cross borders, even when their banks do not.

This is a list of fintechs that are measurably reducing expenses, time, and uncertainty in how money moves across countries.

Some do it at scale, others do it with focus, but all of them are changing outcomes.

These are the fintechs making cross-border payments faster, cheaper, and harder to ignore in 2026.

1. Grey Finance

Grey Finance earns its place on this list because it understands that the future of work is borderless, but money movement is not. 

In 2026, that gap is where we find value. Grey has built itself directly inside it. By expanding beyond Africa into Latin America and Southeast Asia, and wiring itself into local payment ecosystems through partners like dLocal, Grey is going beyond adding countries to a map. 

It is redesigning how emerging-market talent gets paid, spends, and plans across borders, without losing value to intermediaries.

What makes Grey unique is not speed alone, but its vision. The platform is built for people whose income and lives span currencies, including freelancers, remote workers, founders, and SMEs earning globally but spending locally. 

Multi-currency accounts, wallet-to-bank transfers, and transparent FX pricing are the foundation here. In markets where traditional remittance fees are still between 7 and 10%, Grey’s model materially changes results. 

Faster settlement means better cash flow. Lower fees mean real income retained. For millions of users, that difference is economic.

By the end of 2025, Grey had done the hard work, regulatory coverage across key corridors, compliance with FinCEN and FINTRAC, and infrastructure capable of supporting payments to more than 170 countries via ACH and SWIFT. 

Add a growing SME product, Grey Business, and ecosystem initiatives like its support for women-led companies, and the reason it’s among game-changing fintechs in 2026 becomes more obvious. 

Grey is building the default financial layer for a generation that no longer thinks in national terms. In 2026, that focus makes it unavoidable.

2. Oneremit

Oneremit is a game-changer precisely because it refuses to dramatise payments. In an industry obsessed with speed brags and attractive dashboards, Oneremit chose certainty. 

For African businesses trying to operate globally, that choice is more important than anything else. By 2025, the platform had already processed over $60 million in transactions, enabling SMEs in Nigeria to send money to more than 100 countries with clarity on cost, timing, and compliance. 

With long delays and guesswork known as a challenge within this market, that reliability is disruptive.

Under the leadership of Hammed Afenifere, Oneremit has focused on infrastructure rather than spectacle. The concierge model shows a deep understanding of its users, businesses that care less about interfaces and more about knowing their payments will land, cleanly and compliantly. 

In reducing multi-step banking chains into a single, controlled process, Oneremit has cut settlement times from days to minutes. Fees drop. Planning becomes possible. Growth stops being hostage to payment friction.

Looking into 2026, Oneremit’s positioning becomes even more interesting. Its investments in smart routing, compliance-first operations, and selective use of blockchain rails put it in prime position for the next phase of cross-border payments, hybrid systems where automation, stable liquidity, and regulatory confidence coexist. 

While others go after novelty, Oneremit is building products that scale quietly. In payments, quiet is not a weakness, it’s how trust compounds. And trust, in 2026, is the real currency.

3. Pay4Me (Radius)

Pay4Me is among game-changing fintechs making cross-border payments faster and cheaper in 2026 because it focuses on a category most fintechs underestimate, and that is payments that cannot afford to fail. 

Tuition deadlines, visa fees, immigration charges, these are not flexible transactions. A delay does not mean inconvenience but can mean lost admission, expired status, or derailed plans. 

Built from the lived experience of its founder, Pay4Me addresses a problem traditional banks and generic remittance apps were never designed to solve, and that’s fast, compliant, cross-border payments for global mobility.

Through specialisation in education and immigration workflows, Pay4Me has achieved what broad platforms struggle with, same-day or near-instant settlement for highly regulated, consumer-to-institution payments. 

Allowing users to pay in local currencies removes a major limitation for students across Africa, where access to foreign exchange is still constrained. The result goes beyond speed to dignity, users meet deadlines without begging banks or agents for exceptions.

By late 2025, Pay4Me had onboarded over 100,000 users, processed more than $11 million in volume, and supported payments to over 1,000 institutions worldwide. 

Backing from programmes like Techstars and Village Capital helped strengthen its infrastructure, but the main focus is its evolution into Radius, a broader financial mobility platform offering accounts, cards, and credit-building tools. 

In 2026, cross-border movement will continually increase and Pay4Me is going beyond just helping people pay fees, to becoming the financial starting point for citizens globally.

4. Juicyway

Juicyway is attacking the limitations in African cross-border payments, especially in terms of liquidity. Foreign exchange scarcity, opaque pricing, and slow settlement are not edge cases, they are the system. 

Juicyway’s liquidity-first marketplace directly matches FX demand and supply in real time, reducing dependence on correspondent banks and compressing settlement cycles that typically stretch two to five days down to minutes.

The scale it achieved is what makes it impossible to ignore in 2026. Operating largely in stealth until late 2024, Juicyway had already processed over $1.3 billion in FX volume across more than 25,000 transactions, without a public app or aggressive marketing. 

By late 2025, monthly transaction volumes were reported to be over $300 million, with a client base of 12,000+ businesses spanning importers, exporters, logistics firms, and FMCG operators. Retention above 85% points to the fact that users are not just testing the platform, but building around it.

What strengthens Juicyway’s long-term position is discipline. The company has maintained reported profitability, secured a Canadian MSB licence, and partnered with regulated banks and stablecoin infrastructure providers to support USD, CAD, GBP, and EUR corridors. 

With $3 million in pre-seed funding earmarked for API expansion and geographic growth into Francophone and Southern Africa, Juicyway is building itself into a core FX infrastructure layer. In 2026, with African trade straining under currency volatility, that build becomes essential.

5. Kuda

Kuda makes this list because of scale, and what it is now doing with it. Few African fintechs move as much money as Kuda does. 

In Q1 2025 alone, the digital bank processed ₦14.3 trillion (approximately $9.3 billion) in transaction volume and handled over 300 million transactions across its platform. 

That level of throughput changes the conversation. Cross-border payments are now a natural extension of daily banking behaviour.

After years of prioritising user growth, Kuda’s pivot towards sustainability has enhanced its international play. In rebuilding its remittance stack in-house and relaunching its multi-currency wallet in 2025, the company reduced third-party dependency and improved margins. 

With over 7 million users, Kuda is now converting scale into revenue, recording more paid transfers than free ones and projecting 40% revenue growth driven largely by cross-border and high-engagement services.

Looking to 2026, Kuda’s advantage is control. Licences secured in markets such as Canada and Tanzania prepare it for deeper diaspora corridors, while products like overdrafts, which saw ₦16.4 billion issued in Q1 2025, strengthen customer stickiness. 

In combining everyday banking, lending, and international transfers under one roof, Kuda is collapsing what used to be separate financial journeys. That convergence is exactly how cross-border payments become cheaper, faster, and habitual.

6. Cashwise Finance

Cashwise Finance is earlier-stage, but its numbers already show vision backed by execution. In its first year of operation, the platform processed over 80,000 transactions, moving more than $3 million and ₦15 billion across borders. 

For a newly launched product focused on testing, feedback, and infrastructure hardening, those figures reveal early trust, the most difficult currency to earn in payments.

Cashwise spent 2025 tightening the engine. Real-time iteration, edge-case handling, and compliance workflows took precedence over aggressive expansion. That focus shows in its product direction, with multi-currency wallets, faster settlement outside SWIFT rails, and partnerships aimed at ensuring last-mile delivery rather than just outbound transfers. 

For freelancers and SMEs who rely on predictable cash flow, minutes are important, and Cashwise is building for that.

What makes Cashwise one to watch in 2026 is direction. The company is moving from proof to scale with a clear philosophy, and that is, people should stay connected to their money wherever life takes them. 

With foundations laid and volumes already validating demand, the next phase is expansion, into new corridors, deeper SME tooling, and a broader payments ecosystem. In cross-border finance, that sequence, trust first, growth second, is often what separates survivors from leaders.

7. Verto

Among the game-changing fintechs making cross-border payments faster and cheaper in 2026 is Vert, a Fintech that operates where cross-border payments are hardest and most valuable; high-value, time-sensitive trade flows in emerging markets. 

In 2025, the company made a transition from being a specialist FX provider to becoming infrastructure.

It opened a Lagos office to anchor West African operations, expanded its B2B FX marketplace to cover over 190 countries and nearly 50 currencies, and doubled down on regulatory engagement. 

These were more about owning liquidity and trust in markets where both are scarce.

Looking at the economics, connecting directly to local payment rails, Verto dramatically undercuts legacy banking expenses. A frequently noted comparison shows a 2 million ZAR transaction costing roughly R10,000 via Verto versus over R76,000 through traditional banks, a difference that materially changes margins for importers and exporters. 

Near-instant, 24/7 settlement replaces the multi-day delays of SWIFT, while rate locks help businesses manage volatility in currencies like NGN, KES, ZAR, and XOF. For companies operating on thin margins, this is way beyond optimisation.

What makes Verto especially relevant in 2026 is scale plus embed-ability. In 2025, it launched the Verto Atlas Suite, an API-first embedded finance product that allows other platforms to plug directly into its rails. 

Expansion into the UAE, licensed under the Dubai Financial Services Authority, strengthened trade corridors linking Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, regions that collectively process tens of billions of dollars in annual trade flows. 

With a growing team of 200+ staff, on-the-ground presence in Lagos, and hybrid infrastructure spanning fiat and emerging rails, Verto is moving money and becoming part of how emerging-market trade works.

8. FlashChange

FlashChange is one of the game-changing fintechs making cross-border payments faster and cheaper in 2026 because it is silently aligning with how cross-border payments are actually evolving. 

In 2025, the platform moved beyond being a niche digital asset trader and launched FlashChange V2, consolidating crypto transactions, gift cards, bill payments, airtime, and data into a single system. 

The strategic focus is that users do not want separate tools for value storage, spending, and cross-border movement. They want speed, clarity, and reliability, instantly.

What differentiates FlashChange in 2026 is its focus on real-world utility rather than speculation. By leveraging blockchain rails for settlement, the platform avoids the multi-hop delays and high fees associated with traditional banking. 

Transactions clear near-instantly, and costs are materially lower because intermediaries are stripped out. In regions where inflation, FX scarcity, and payment friction are daily occurrences, that speed is more important than ideology. This is crypto used as infrastructure, not stories.

Trust and compliance are where FlashChange has been careful. In September 2025, the company joined the Stakeholders in Blockchain Technology Association of Nigeria (SIBAN), revealing alignment with emerging regulatory and security standards. 

With cross-border payments across Africa edge toward a trillion-dollar opportunity, platforms that can safely bridge digital assets and everyday payments will be essential. 

FlashChange’s hybrid positioning, between traditional finance and blockchain-enabled settlement, places it squarely in the flow of where payments are heading in 2026.

9. LemFi

LemFi stands out here because it has moved faster than most, and stayed licensed while doing so. By 2025, the company had evolved from a focused remittance app into a multi-product financial platform serving diaspora communities across Africa, Europe, North America, and Asia. 

Backed by a $53 million Series B, LemFi expanded to 27+ send-from markets, added Asian corridors including India, Pakistan, and China, and built infrastructure capable of handling over $1 billion in monthly transaction volume.

The platform’s differentiation is not just low or zero fees, but velocity and control. A large share of transfers settle instantly or within minutes, supported by partnerships with local banks and mobile money operators. 

LemFi’s acquisition of Pillar in mid-2025 brought about credit products for immigrants, a segment usually excluded from traditional financial systems, while new services like LemFi Credit reportedly attracted over 50,000 applications in early rollout. This is remittance evolving into financial inclusion at scale.

What places LemFi strongly for 2026 is independence. In securing its own European licences, including in Ireland, the company reduced reliance on third-party sponsors for operations in the UK and Germany. 

New partnerships, such as enabling instant transfers to tens of millions of mobile wallet users in recipient markets, deepen last-mile delivery. With active user rates reported around 70% among early adopters, LemFi has proven that speed, pricing, and trust can coexist. In a sector still taken over by slow incumbents, that combination is what turns growth into leadership.

10. Comviva

Comviva earns its place on this list not because it is new, but because of the scale it operates at, and what it proved in 2025. 

By October 2025, Comviva’s mobiquity Pay platform was processing over $400 billion in transactions annually, spanning 55+ countries and supporting billions of transactions each year across digital wallets, remittances, and merchant payments. 

The company’s defining moment came in 2025 when it won the IBS Intelligence Global FinTech Innovation Award for “Best-in-Class Cross-Border Payments” for its deployment with Global Money Exchange Company (GMEC) in Oman. 

The Global Pay Oman app, powered by mobiquity Pay, transformed a traditional remittance service into a full digital wallet and payments platform, combining international transfers, local payments, bill pay, and FX services in one interface. 

This “super app” approach reduced settlement times, cut operational costs, and materially improved transaction success rates through AI-led payment orchestration.

Why Comviva becomes especially important in 2026 is replication. With an estimated 24% share of the global mobile money market, its technology already underpins financial services for millions of users in emerging markets. 

The Oman deployment now serves as a blueprint for rolling out similar cross-border wallet ecosystems across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. With regulators pushing for faster, cheaper, and more inclusive payment systems, Comviva’s ability to deliver real-time, 24/7 cross-border payments at scale positions it more as infrastructure.

11. Clea

Clea targets one of Africa’s most painful and under-served problems, which is paying international suppliers reliably as an importer. 

In late 2025, the company officially launched from stealth after a pilot phase that processed over $4 million in cross-border transactions, validating demand for a faster, more transparent alternative to traditional bank wires and informal FX channels.

Unlike consumer remittance apps, Clea is built for trade. It uses blockchain-based settlement rails to allow African businesses to convert local currency, including naira, into USD and pay suppliers directly, usually clearing transactions same day or next day, rather than waiting several days through SWIFT. 

Payments are executed in the importer’s own name, reducing compliance red flags and trust gaps that frequently delay shipments or trigger reversals in international trade.

What makes Clea one to watch in 2026 is focus and timing. Africa faces an estimated $120 billion trade finance gap, with SMEs locked out of FX access by slow banks, high spreads, and opaque processes. In 2025, Clea established active corridors to key import hubs, the United States, China, and the UAE, and launched iOS and Android apps designed specifically for traceable, business-grade payments. 

The company has grown in a bootstrapped, capital-efficient way, prioritising unit economics and real usage over hype.

Clea is scaling across Nigeria’s 36 states and expanding payout routes beyond West Africa in 2026, it is not building itself as a wallet, but as a payments layer embedded directly into supply chains.

Startups are attracting more funding, digital infrastructure is growing, and recent tech developments show strong momentum in Nigeria’s tech sector.

This is a quick look at key tech news updates worth knowing as the year wraps up.

Funding and Investment: Africa’s Tech Funding Picks Up Again

African startups raised about $441.9 million from 59 deals in October 2025 alone. This is a 217% jump from the $139.4 million recorded in September.

Between January and October 2025, startups across the continent secured a total of $2.65 billion, up 56% from the $1.7 billion raised in the same period in 2024.

Around 76% of the October funding came as equity, meaning investors are buying ownership stakes again rather than offering short-term loans.

Unlike the hype-driven boom of 2021–2022, funding is now going to startups with clear business models, real revenue, and practical, infrastructure-focused solutions.

Nigeria is one of the top beneficiaries. In the first quarter of 2025 alone, Nigerian startups raised over $100 million, with fintech leading the way. LemFi, a cross-border payments company, raised $53 million to expand into Europe and Asia.

Moniepoint also secured an additional $90 million in Series C funding this year, keeping its position as one of Africa’s largest fintech players.

As the year ends, many analysts expect investment activity to improve further in 2026 based on this year’s trends.

Beyond fintech, sectors such as clean energy, logistics, and health tech are also attracting steady funding. This shows investors are backing solutions that address Africa’s core challenges, including power, transport, payments, and connectivity.

Growing Infrastructure: Nigeria’s Digital Backbone Gets Stronger

While funding usually gets the headlines, infrastructure goes in another direction. Nigeria’s data centre capacity is expected to grow from the current 65–86 MW to over 400 MW in the next three to five years, according to recent reports. That is almost a six-fold increase and could change Nigeria’s role in West Africa’s digital economy.

The impact could be far-reaching. A $10 million data centre can generate about $17 million in economic output during construction and more than $39 million by its tenth year of operation. Beyond direct returns, increased capacity allows businesses to host data locally. This reduces costs, improves speed, and supports services such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and real-time data processing.

Telecom companies are already investing heavily. MTN Nigeria has begun work on a 150 MW data centre, while Airtel is building a 38 MW Nxtra Data Centre in Eko Atlantic.

Other firms are also entering the space, increasing competition and capacity. These projects place Nigeria as a serious alternative to European data centres, many of which are facing capacity pressure.

For Nigerian startups, this transition could be transformational. Stronger infrastructure supports the growth of SaaS platforms, fintech, AI, and health tech, all of which depend on fast and reliable data access.

It also helps reduce the long-standing problem of high cloud costs, often priced in dollars, which eat into local companies’ margins.

Nigeria’s National ID Transition: A Big Move with Real Risks

Alongside infrastructure growth, Nigeria is undergoing one of its largest technology transitions. The country is moving its National Identity Management System to an open-source platform known as MOSIP. The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) began this migration in July 2025 under an $83 million contract.

By October 2025, around 124 million National Identification Numbers had been issued. Migrating data of this scale, including biometric information, is one of the most sensitive tasks in digital government. Errors could disrupt access to banking, telecom services, and other systems that rely on NIN verification.

The transition has happened quietly. The old NIMC portal is no longer active, and its app has been removed from app stores.

This followed the launch of a new platform called NINAuth, but with limited public explanation. Banks, telecom operators, and fintech companies that depend on the old system are still unclear about integration timelines and requirements.

When a system this important is changing, poor communication creates uncertainty. Digital systems need stability, and institutions need clear guidance to adjust.

At the moment, Nigeria’s ID system sits in an unclear transition phase. Whether the change proves successful or disruptive depends largely on information that has yet to be shared.

Conclusion

The tech sector in Nigeria is not returning to the hype-driven peaks of 2021–2022, and that may be a positive shift. Instead, the focus is on building solid foundations through disciplined funding, improved infrastructure, and solutions to real problems.

The return of strong funding shows that investors still believe in African tech, but expectations are higher. At the same time, growing infrastructure, especially data centres, signals that Nigeria is preparing for a future where digital services are hosted locally, faster, and more reliably.

However, there are still challenges. The national ID transition carries real risks. Power supply issues continue to raise operating costs. Currency instability still makes long-term planning difficult. Even so, the direction is clear. Nigeria is investing in infrastructure, attracting capital, and building the support systems needed to compete across Africa and beyond.

The next phase is not about how much money is raised, but how effectively it is used, and whether today’s infrastructure can support tomorrow’s innovations.

The remittance market has changed dramatically over the past few years. Traditional banks and money transfer operators that once dominated the space now face stiff competition from mobile-first platforms offering better rates, faster transfers, and transparent pricing.

But with dozens of apps claiming to be the best, which ones are Africans abroad actually using?

We analyzed the most popular remittance corridors from Canada and the UK, two of the largest African diaspora markets, to identify the apps that combine competitive pricing, reliable service, and genuine value for users.

Our Selection Methodology

We evaluated remittance apps based on five key factors:

Market Presence: We focused on platforms with proven track records in Canada and the UK, where competition is fierce and users have high expectations for service quality.

Exchange Rate Competitiveness: We compared live rates across multiple platforms for common transfer amounts ($500) to Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya.

Transaction Volume & User Base: We assessed each platform’s scale by examining publicly available user numbers, transaction volumes, and app download statistics.

Business Model Sustainability: We looked at which platforms have demonstrated sustainable growth models. Apps that grow organically often maintain competitive pricing longer because they’re not burning through venture capital to subsidize unsustainable rates.

Speed and Reliability: We evaluated typical settlement times and examined user reviews for patterns of delays or failed transactions.

The Apps Africans Are Actually Using

1. Africhange: Best for Competitive Rates

Africhange has built a reputation for consistently offering some of the most competitive exchange rates in the Canada-UK-Nigeria corridor. The platform serves over 300,000 users and has processed more than about 3million transactions since launching in Canada in 2020.

The platform holds licenses from FINTRAC in Canada, the FCA in the UK (launched July 2024), and the Central Bank of Nigeria.

AfriChange operates across multiple corridors and supports transfers from Canada, UK, Australia, and Nigeria. The platform also offers zero transfer fees, with costs built into transparent exchange rate margins.

Transfers typically settle within 10-30 minutes to Nigerian bank accounts. The app includes multi-currency wallets and a loyalty program (Afripoints) where users earn cash rewards on transactions. In the UK, AfriChange offers true bank accounts that allow users to hold and spend money..

Best for: Users in Canada and UK sending to Nigeria, Ghana, or Kenya who prioritize getting the maximum naira, cedis, or shillings for their dollars or pounds. Nigerians who look to recieve money in USD, Nigerians who looks to send money from Nigeria to anywhere in the world.

2. LemFi: Fastest Growing Platform

LemFi has become a household name in diaspora remittance circles, serving over 1 million active users and processing $1 billion in monthly transaction volume as of January 2025. The platform raised $85 million in funding, with a $53 million Series B round that valued the company at $725 million.

The app operates from Canada, UK, US, and Europe, sending to 30+ countries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. LemFi offers zero fees for most African destinations, including Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya. The platform earns revenue through foreign exchange spreads, typically adding a small margin above mid-market rates.

LemFi’s multi-currency wallet lets users hold funds in GBP, CAD, USD, and EUR. Most transfers complete within minutes. The platform is regulated by the FCA in the UK, FINTRAC in Canada, and FinCEN in the US.

Best for: Users who need to send money to multiple countries or want a feature-rich app with strong brand recognition.

3. TapTap Send: Most Popular

With over 10 million downloads on Google Play alone, TapTap Send has massive reach. The company raised $97 million in funding, including a $65 million Series B in 2021.

TapTap Send charges zero fees for transfers from the UK, Canada, and EU to most African destinations. The platform supports transfers to nearly 50 countries, with particularly strong coverage in Africa, Latin America, Asia, and the Caribbean.

Most transfers complete within minutes to mobile money wallets. The company pools customer transfers to negotiate better exchange rates with partners. However, some users note that the exchange rate spread can be wider than mid-market rates, meaning the “zero fee” model still has costs built in.

TapTap Send operates as a licensed money transmitter in multiple jurisdictions, including authorization from the FCA in the UK and FINTRAC in Canada. The platform accepts debit cards but not credit cards, corporate cards, or prepaid cards.

Best for: Users who prefer a simple, straightforward app and send money to less common destinations beyond major African markets.

4. NALA: Best for Mobile Money (East Africa)

NALA has carved out a strong position in East African remittances, serving over 500,000 users. The platform raised $50 million in total funding ($40 million Series A) and reached profitability with 10x revenue growth.

NALA specializes in instant mobile money transfers, with 95% of transactions completing in seconds to major mobile money providers in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Rwanda. The platform recently expanded to Nigeria, Senegal, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, and select Asian markets including India, Pakistan, and the Philippines.

Mobile money transfers have zero fees. Bank transfers incur fees that vary by country. NALA earns revenue through exchange rate markups, typically competitive but not always the absolute lowest in the market.

The platform is licensed in the US and operates as an agent under FCA-regulated Mouldr FS Ltd in the UK, and is regulated by De Nederlandsche Bank in the Netherlands. NALA was named to the Forbes Fintech 50 list in 2025.

NALA pioneered internet-free transfers using USSD technology, addressing connectivity challenges in some African regions. The app includes a referral program and repeat transfer functionality.

Best for: Users sending to East Africa who want instant mobile money delivery without fees.

5. Wise: Most Established Platform

Wise (formerly TransferWise) is the industry giant, with 10+ million downloads and over $100 billion processed in 2023. The publicly traded company (valued at $11 billion at IPO) operates in 50+ countries.

Wise uses the mid-market exchange rate—the fairest rate with no markup—and charges transparent conversion fees ranging from 0.35% to 3% depending on the currency corridor. For African currencies, fees typically run 1-1.5% for major corridors like GBP/CAD to NGN, KES, or GHS.

Transfers to Africa can take anywhere from minutes to several days depending on the corridor and payment method. Bank transfers (ACH) are cheaper than card payments. Wise offers bank-level encryption, 2-factor authentication, and is regulated by the FCA in the UK and FinCEN in the US.

While Wise doesn’t always have the absolute best rates for African corridors, the platform’s transparency and reliability make it a trusted choice for users handling larger amounts or who value the multi-currency account features.

Best for: Users who want absolute transparency, multi-currency accounts, or are sending to multiple global destinations beyond Africa.

6. WorldRemit: Best for Cash Pickup

WorldRemit serves 8+ million customers worldwide with 144 payout partners across 130+ countries. The platform offers four payout methods: bank transfer, mobile money, cash pickup, and home delivery.

Transfer fees range from $0.99 to $3.99 depending on the amount, destination, and payout method. WorldRemit adds a 0.5-2.5% markup to exchange rates. The company is regulated by the FCA in the UK and licensed in all markets where it operates.

WorldRemit’s extensive cash pickup network makes it valuable for sending money to recipients without bank accounts or mobile money access.

Most mobile money and cash pickup transfers complete within minutes. Bank transfers can take up to 4 business days.

The platform supports airtime top-ups, allowing users to add credit to recipients’ mobile phones. Customer service receives consistent praise, with phone support available in multiple regions.

Best for: Sending money to recipients in rural areas or those who need cash pickup options.

The remittance industry has come a long way from the days of Western Union monopolies and 10% fees. Competition has driven prices down and service quality up.

The winners are the millions of families receiving more money because diaspora members have better options.

The fund is targeting a final close of $75 million.

The close saw 70% of Limited Partner (LP) interest from the VC’s first institutional fund, a strong testament to the firm’s track record and strategy.

New and returning investors include the first-of-its-kind participation from the Nigeria Investment in Digital and Creative Enterprises (iDICE) program, a bold initiative aimed at positioning Nigeria as a global hub for digital innovation and creative excellence, alongside, International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, Standard Bank (South Africa), British International Investment(BII), the UK’s development finance institution and impact investor, Proparco through its EU-backed Choose Africa VC program, Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises Development Agency (MSMEDA) and AfricaGrow.

The fund also attracted strong participation from leading European family offices, including Alder Tree Investment, as well as a consortium of prominent global investors including  Michael Seibel.

Ventures Platform’s PAF II will strategically deepen its investment scope across Africa. In addition to its foundational pre-seed and seed rounds, the fund will now lead and catalyse Series A investments, effectively de-risking high-potential ventures and enhancing value creation.

Simultaneously, it will consolidate the firm’s activities in Francophone Africa and accelerate pan-African expansion into North Africa, while doubling down on its core operations in Nigeria and broader Africa.

The fund will prioritise ventures building essential “painkiller” solutions that solve for non-consumption and plug infrastructural gaps in Fintech, Healthtech, Agritech, Edtech, AI, amongst other sectors.

Speaking on the close, Kola Aina, Founding Partner at Ventures Platform, said,

“The backing we’ve received from a diverse group of blue-chip partners is a powerful endorsement of Africa’s place as the purest, most asymmetric source for non-consensus alpha and transformative impact. The continent’s innovation opportunity is boundless, the needs are immense, but realising its full impact demands smart contextual capital, post-investment value creation, and a commitment to de-risking groundbreaking market-creating innovations. With VP PAF II, we are broadening our reach and deepening our focus on discovering and empowering innovators that will solve chronic non-consumption across the continent.

He continues,

“We believe Africa’s challenges are its greatest opportunities. By supporting resilient founders, we’re catalysing sustainable, market-creating innovations that will shape the future of the continent and plug gaps for the next billion. As we expand our footprint, our focus remains clear: to identify and back ventures that are building market-creating innovations that solve for non-consumption and drive economic evolution”.

Since its inception in 2016, Ventures Platform has established a robust track record, discovering and funding over 90 startups, including some of the most successful on the continent, across multiple tech verticals.

This success is underscored by the strong performance of its 1st institutional fund, which closed in December 2022, and the firm’s impressive return of 4 out of 6 vintages to date.

Further demonstrating its value-creation proposition, Ventures Platform has achieved a high graduation rate from Seed to Series A and beyond, with notable examples of investees including Raenest, Remedial, and SeamlessHR, as well as LemFi and Moniepoint, which have successfully raised Series B and C funding, respectively.

Over the years, the firm’s success has remained rooted in its deep local expertise, robust platform (portfolio success) practice, and data-driven approach to investment decisions and supporting founders.

As a team of expert ex-operators and founders, the Ventures Platform team understands the nuances of the African market and is committed to building long-term partnerships that drive transformative impact. Its ability to efficiently evaluate deals, deploy resources, and scale its portfolio companies has solidified its reputation as the investor of choice in the ecosystem.

The confidence shown by its diverse LP base and a unique investment from institutions like iDice highlights the Venture platform’s commitment to empowering entrepreneurs who are driving Africa’s economic future and establishing the continent as a global innovation leader.

Dr Olasupo Olusi – MD/CEO of Bank of Industry said,

“As the implementing agency of the iDICE (Investment In Digital and Creative Enterprises) Programme, Bank of Industry is proud to be associated with Ventures Platform – the programme’s Technology Fund Manager on this milestone achievement. By investing in Ventures Platform’s Fund II, which serves as iDICE’s Technology Equity Fund for Nigerian startups, we are deepening the Federal Government’s objective of upscaling the Nigerian technology and creative sectors by catalyzing strategic investments in high-growth, technology-enabled enterprises and the innovation ecosystem. Thereby contributing meaningfully to the nation’s broader economic transformation agenda, with a goal to create jobs at scale, but also empower high-growth entrepreneurs across the country.”

Also speaking, Nimalan Reddy, executive vice president, Investment Banking/Equity Investments at Standard Bank South Africa, said

“Standard Bank is proud to continue our partnership with Ventures Platform into Fund II. This is a testament to the quality and strength of the Ventures Platform team and our commitment to supporting high impact entrepreneurs across Africa.”

“We are proud to renew our support to Ventures Platform with their new fund”, said Françoise Lombard, CEO of Proparco. “As our first fund investment under the EU-backed Choose Africa VC program, it underscores our confidence in the team and our continued commitment to backing the tech ecosystem in Nigeria and across Africa”.

Farid Fezoua, IFC Global Director for Disruptive Technologies, Services and Funds, said:

“Emerging markets are home to a new generation of founders building practical, scalable solutions to pressing development challenges. IFC’s investment in Ventures Platform Fund II will help early-stage startups move from proof-of-concept to growth, accelerating innovation in sectors like fintech, healthtech, edtech, and agtech, while also strengthening local value chains and creating quality jobs. By channeling venture capital into Africa’s tech ecosystem, we’re unlocking the potential of entrepreneurs to drive resilient growth and expand opportunities for small businesses and young people across the continent.”

Ventures Platform has consistently backed category-leading companies, with OmniRetail, Thrive Agric, and Moniepoint (Africa’s newest unicorn) all recognised among the Financial Times’ 2024 list of Africa’s 25 fastest-growing companies, with OmniRetail securing the top position.

Similarly, Piggyvest and Moniepoint have earned international acclaim, ranking among CNBC’s top 250 fintech companies and top 20 financial planning firms, while Remedial Health was named to Time’s 2025 list of the World’s Top Health Companies, highlighting Ventures Platform’s track record in nurturing high-impact innovators.

With VP PAF II, the VC is positioned to further empower Africa’s most promising innovators, driving sustainable economic evolution and solidifying the continent’s position as a global leader in innovation while delivering on its mission of democratising prosperity.

Truth be told, too many organisations still treat human capital as a budget line to be squeezed rather than the force that drives growth. 

Gallup’s 2024 global workplace survey shows that only 21% of employees feel engaged at work, and disengagement costs the world nearly $8.8 trillion in lost productivity each year. For an age that prides itself on innovation, that’s a huge irony.

It takes a different kind of leader to flip that script, one who doesn’t see HR as a cost centre, but as the strategic engine of growth, resilience and sustainability. Adebayo Aderohunmu has built a career proving exactly that. 

From scaling Reliance Health’s workforce by over 300% in two years to driving LemFi’s expansion across 10+ countries while supporting its $86 million fundraising journey, his work shows how a thoughtful people and business strategy can change the direction of companies.

Adebayo commands the depth and approach of both an HR and Business Leader, whose approach blends apt research, technology, and empathy, while his ecosystem contributions reveal a dedication to paying it forward. 

In this conversation with Techeconomy, he opens up about his early inspirations, lessons from scaling global teams, and why the future of HR depends on building systems that go beyond managing people to actually empowering them.

TE: You’ve worked across multiple industries – from consulting, oil & gas, healthtech to fintech – what inspired your journey into HR, and how has your background shaped your approach today?

Adebayo Aderohunmu: My journey into HR was inspired first by related courses I did in my undergraduate degree, including industrial sociology, human resource management and the sociology of organisations. These courses made me understand and become deeply interested in the nature of human relations, roles within organisations, and how the productivity of organisations, and essentially our society, rests on human resources and how they are managed.

Research and academia in these courses, which I grew familiar with, established the centrality of human resources in organisations, its priority over other resources and research-backed methods to managing it effectively. Post my graduation, I chose to focus on a career in Human Resource Management. I have since over time, extended my learning in this field via certifications and my work experience. 

A lot I do is largely fed by that research, data and academic background. It has shaped my commitment to understand historical trends and future innovations in my field, curate research and academia-backed initiatives at work.  

Progressively, I have had the opportunity to work with HR Leaders who have also inspired my approach with their empathetic decision-making, impeccable execution and warm stakeholder management approach. 

TE: Looking back at your career trajectory, which role or project do you consider the turning point in establishing yourself as a global HR leader?

Adebayo Aderohunmu: It’s a company, or pretty much a project, Reliance Health. Working at Reliance Health marked my foray into Tech, a new approach to doing things in HR, and working with stakeholders across geographies. The role afforded me a great level of balanced autonomy and responsibility to own, curate and execute a number of talent acquisition and management projects that moved the company many leaps forward.

Projects I did in this space include a democratised competency-based and structured interviewing process, instituting an asynchronous internal learning system, supporting the building of an internal Performance Management System, curating an effective onboarding process for a global remote-first system, and recruiting globally across functions and seniority.

These projects meant the company could effectively recruit folks across the world, incrementally grow its workforce by over 300% in two years with spread across EMEA & APAC, onboard GTM and technical c-suite leadership,  increased revenue, raised the primed highest funding by an healthtech in Africa of $40m, doubled down on its market in Nigeria and expanded out of Nigeria into Egypt, etc. 

As an instance, I held the brief to recruit the VP of International Expansion at RH with so much glee as it marked such a next step in the company’s trajectory. With a great understanding of the brief, sourced and eventually hired a Super profile for the role. Down the line, this hire informed the company’s expansion into Egypt, of which I also held the reins in hiring the country’s leadership.

Did some great work here. Also got to win Employee of the Year, People Operations Team. 

Global HR Experience

TE: At LemFi, you managed a workforce of over 400 employees spread across 10+ countries. What are the biggest challenges of managing a distributed, multicultural workforce, and how did you overcome them?

Adebayo Aderohunmu: Managing such a distributed workforce had many challenges, among which were timezone syncs, employee productivity, communication and availability, team bonding and employee engagement, etc. Chief among these was the acculturation of new hires and employees in general. 

In a build fast, ship fast and scale fast environment, it is easy to forget the work is within an organisation and the individual employee and/or the new hire is part of a breathing whole.  Working with the team, a couple of the initiatives I did were:

1. Ensuring onboarding wasn’t just about work and work deliverables, but a larger introduction and absorption of the LemFi culture. 
2. A Quarterly Meet The Founder, where new hires at that time could have a chat with one of the founders. This was such an opportunity to share and ask questions about the mission, journey and behaviours at the company. 
3. Instituted a Culture/Engagement Champion Programme, where nominated colleagues served as culture ambassadors within different teams, who weren’t just mirrors of our culture but also had the soft responsibility to spread the culture markers, organise engagement and bonding events in their team, and generally work with the People Team and their Team Leads to foster a positive work culture. 

The surveyed and anecdotal feedback from these initiatives was warm and showed an impactful contribution. 

TE: Studies show that 77% of companies now use HR tech platforms to manage global teams. What merging lines between technology and HR Management have you explored, and what’s your opinion?

Adebayo Aderohunmu: Technology is a super phenomenon. Within my career, I have always had a bias towards the possibilities of technology, particularly within my areas of focus. This bias and putting it to work have made me some sort of SME on HR Technology in most of the places I have worked. 

In recruiting and managing people at scale, especially in global environments, which forms my work experience, I needed to grow an affinity for reigning in technological tools and platforms across various value chains in HR, from onboarding, recruitment, employee management, performance management, employee engagement, payroll, etc.

Across these lines, using a number of platforms helped ensure the companies were compliant per different geography of employee residence, could recruit and onboard at scale, asynchronously internally train employees, etc.

My pose to fellow professionals in this wise is to imagine the possibilities technology can offer to their work, and then go after it. You will most likely find what you are looking for. 

Impact & Achievements

TE: LemFi in the last 3 years has been on a super impressive growth and expansion trajectory, including raising $86m (Series A & B), deeper market expansion into Europe and the Americas, and the acquisition of two companies in the UK. What role did HR, in particular Talent Acquisition and Management, play in this?

Adebayo Aderohunmu: I believe LemFi is on such a wholesome trajectory that is hard to deny, energised by such a driven founding team, leadership team and the general workforce. As the CEO calls it, the company is on course to build the “Fullstack Financial Service for the Global South” diaspora. 

While many tend to tout HR as a cost centre, without immediate business results or contribution to the bottom line, otherwise is mostly the case. At LemFi, my team and I, including my manager and two other team members, did work that is hard not to see how we moved the needle of the business forward.

A lot of this work, albeit in the background, is running people operations, tempering chaos, company compliance across global legal entities, multi-geography payroll and benefits structuring and management,  recruiting and onboarding hires, etc. Two mantras that drove us as laid down by my manager – HR will not be a clog in the business wheel, and business and people’s priority was HR’s priority. 

Particularly, a couple of my individual contributions include working with departmental leaders and the IT Team to institute an onboarding system that supported the growth of the company across different geographies, crafting policies and processes that not just simplified our people processes but also ensured our financial regulatory compliance and access to licences, recruiting globally across teams to support GTM, engineering, product compliance and customer success, etc.

Coupled with the achievements you noted in your question, these inputs by me and the larger HR team are not too far from the company’s recent achievement of over $1 billion in monthly transactions, the acquisition of Pillar and expanded product lines and markets. 

TE: As on your LinkedIn profile, during your time at Reliance Health, you helped grow the workforce by over 300% in less than two years. What strategies or systems made that scale possible without losing cultural alignment?

Adebayo Aderohunmu: Thank you very much for that question. Aside from working extra hours and embracing the startup hustle culture, one system that the scale was built on was what I call a democratised, competency-based and structured recruitment process. An overarching highlight of that was enabling every employee of RH, post 6 months on the job, to adequately interview for cultural elements in a recruitment process. 

So, the typical traditional process in an organisation, or tech startups, is to have either the HR Manager, the recruiter or the company leadership interview candidates for cultural alignment with the company. As good as this process may be, it meant the “culture interviewer”, especially in a fast scaling organisation, was all logged on interviews for a number of hours a week, interviews lagging based on their availability and at times being drawn to other “more” priority projects/tasks. At RH, in the initial months, this obligation fell on me as the recruiter and obviously was not scalable. 

So, working together with the company leadership and asking a lot of “whys” on the traditional process, I instituted a process that trained and empowered all post-6-month term Rhomans (employees of RH) to adequately interview for cultural elements in interviews. A summation of this was identifying our culture markers, defining them as related to the company, creating questions and rubrics related to this, an interviewer training tutorial and guide, etc. Thus, spreading the task to over 100 employees, who were happy and glad to be part of the process to select and usher in new colleagues to the company. 

Big Ups to Google’s rework and Laszlo Bock’s Work Rules! That provided such a global guide.

TE: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is an evolving global priority, especially for companies. One of the companies you worked for, Stitch, seems to have a very credible focus on DEI. Did you get to play some part in this?

Adebayo Aderohunmu: Because a lot of the things we do as talent acquisition and management professionals feed off the direction and priority of the leadership. At Stitch, the leadership was very deliberate about a diverse and inclusive workforce, particularly at the levels of race and gender. The company had a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Initiative (DEII), to mirror the diverse market it serves and to further empower innovation and better outcomes for the company. 

Riding on this, I grew familiar with related communities, companies in mirroring localities where those talents were, and was willing to go the extra mile. This meant most times, going beyond the talent that was easily accessible for me, but looking for more. For instance, the brief for a black/coloured female Senior Software Engineer in South Africa meant dedicating more time to sourcing, reaching out via 2nd or 3rd LinkedIn connections, understanding the terrain, etc.

This also meant building a system that can support remote onboarding across and expanding talent markets into countries such as Togo and Kenya. I was glad to have been part of such a driven team, achieving 50% gender diversity and 40% racial diversity within the workforce. 

I joined the team as they were looking to expand into Nigeria and Kenya. In about two months, I hired a couple of senior software engineers and product managers from top companies within Africa to move its mission forward and and added a number of hires from other verticals such as compliance, product partnerships and data in subsequent months.

Though the Nigeria and Kenya expansion didn’t particularly pan out, not yet, happy to see how that contribution has grown the team, doubled down on its products in South Africa, made incredible acquisitions, increased revenue and raised funding rounds after. 

People, Culture & Leadership

TE: Employee engagement remains a global concern — Gallup’s 2024 report found that only 21% of employees worldwide feel engaged at work. From your experience, what truly drives engagement in distributed teams?

Adebayo Aderohunmu: What drives employee engagement is a decade-old burning question. Because employees are individually different, exist in different contexts, experience varied management styles even in the same company, etc. This dynamism becomes quite multiplied in a remote, distributed team. 

In my experience, an anchor that I have seen work in distributed teams is trust and autonomy. When companies build an environment, communication system and structure that sees employees as adults, engenders clear communication of expectations, provides the tools and enablement for achievement, and trusts employees to put in their best at work, the typical employee is attuned to work, the deliverables and the company’s vision. I believe this view has also been established by research by the NHS and CIPD. 

TE: Leadership training and coaching seem to be recurring parts of your work. Why is investing in mid-level leadership development so critical to long-term organisational success?

Adebayo Aderohunmu: It’s often said that children are the leaders of tomorrow. While mid-level managers aren’t children, they are indeed the leaders of the organisation tomorrow, and also very much now. Firstly, much of the operational burden and performance drive of organisations rests on the middle leadership, which is easy to see. A recent McKinsey research noted that organisations with middle managers who exhibit best-in-class behaviours generate 21x higher total shareholder returns (TSR) over five years than companies with weaker managers.  

Secondly, they sit in such a place to determine the culture and meaning of work in the organisation. Poor mid-level management will lead to quite disengaged employees, while great mid-level management is a catalyst for purposeful and aligned employees. Of course, they are also the pipeline of management leadership, who at the time of being at the midlevel, should be exposed to adequate management behaviours either via training, mentorship or coaching. 

Unfortunately, what you find in most companies, especially tech startups, is that mid-level managers are abandoned, assumed to know how to lead and inadequately supported. I believe this is one of the reasons for a number of toxic leadership behaviours and employee burnout we have around.

Future of HR & Technology

TE: With AI rapidly entering HR — from recruitment to performance tracking — do you see it as a threat or an opportunity for HR professionals?

Adebayo Aderohunmu: Seeing it as a threat will spell doom. Most importantly, it’s such a massive opportunity for HR professionals to expand their skillset, build transformative people processes and offer more value to the business and their people.

TE: The global HR tech market is projected to hit $63 billion by 2032. Where do you see the biggest opportunities for innovation in HR over the next decade? Again, if you were mentoring a young professional entering HR today, what three lessons from your own journey would you want them to take with them?

Adebayo Aderohunmu: The biggest opportunities over the next decade in HR Tech, especially with the incursion and integration of AI into many platforms, will be massive. I can easily identify two:

1. More than ever before, AI will provide an engine for Predictive HR  Analytics tools across different value chains – recruitment, performance, learning, etc.
2. Automation and interoperability of platforms. Automation tools for operational HR tasks are on the rise, but most are still within standalone platforms that don’t easily feed into each other; however, because a number of HR related data and tasks flow into each other, it causes some hard stops, hence not as smooth an automation or value. For instance, onboarding information feeds seamlessly into payroll, or performance flows into learning. Either in more open API access or other means, I see more interoperability in HR Tech. Of course, of note here is the need for data integrity and best data practices. 

Three hands, I will borrow a young professional new to talent activation and management:

1. Don’t be afraid to do the dirty work. A lot of the work that will build your competency, add to the business’s bottom line and make you proud in the long term is in the dirty work. 
2. Train your thought process and apply it on the job. Don’t be afraid to question the norms in practice you see around.
3. Be very familiar with business concepts, and see that you have a good understanding of what’s behind the hood of the company you are working for. 

Ecosystem Contribution

TE: Many leaders focus only on their organisations, but ecosystems thrive on collective effort. In what ways are you contributing to the growth of the wider tech and HR community, and what impact do you hope to leave behind?

Adebayo Aderohunmu: Leaving behind is a life question. But I do try my best to pay it forward in individual relationships and the larger ecosystem, and I find great value in doing so. One of the ways I do this is by supporting younger tech professionals who are looking to grow their careers and get the best jobs, through volunteering and mentorship in tech communities and platforms such as Uptick Talent, Code Your Future, etc. The feedback and success stories from this have been amazing, and I definitely look forward to doing more. 

Within the HR community, you will find me individually guiding professionals on how they can scale their contributions to the bottom line. More recently, I have been putting out topical and research-based articles in journals either individually or in collaboration with a couple of friends, on subject matter areas within HR that I believe are important for the profession in light of recent trends and technology, to help shape how we deliver value and add to the global HR knowledge base. 

The acquisition, following LemFi’s $53 million Series B round closed earlier in January, has been approved by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). This will enable the company to move from a remittance-first model to a full-stack financial services provider targeting the financial situations of migrant communities.

For many immigrants arriving in the UK, gaining access to credit is an uphill battle. Their credit histories don’t travel with them. They may come from strong financial backgrounds, but in the eyes of British financial institutions, they start from zero. 

Roughly five million people in the UK are classified as “credit invisible”, making them four times more likely to be denied essential services such as loans, credit cards, and mobile contracts.

LemFi is moving to change that. With this acquisition, the company will become the first major remittance platform to fully integrate credit into its core offering. 

LemFi’s CEO, Ridwan Olalere, “We have long stated our vision of building a full-stack financial service for immigrants everywhere. Credit marks the next frontier for us in this journey. Rian and I are particularly pleased that Adam and Ash have agreed to join us in building it.”

Pillar brings with it proprietary technology, a solid credit-scoring engine that pulls data from 18 emerging markets, and a team led by Revolut alumni Ashutosh Bhatt and Adam Lewis. 

That technology allows users to “import” their credit history from their home countries, breaking one of the toughest barriers immigrants face in financial systems across Europe and North America.

Ashutosh Bhatt’s experience shows the daily challenges of many skilled professionals who migrate to the UK. “I couldn’t access any of the everyday [financial] products I had in India. Despite arriving and earning a good salary at Barclays, I couldn’t even get an iPhone!”

And he’s not alone. A recent estimate shows that 13% of immigrants in the UK are financially excluded, compared to just 3% of the general population. LemFi wants to cut that gap quickly.

Six weeks into its credit product’s private beta, LemFi had already onboarded over 8,000 users, growing 18% week-on-week. Through LemFi Credit, customers can access up to £1,000 via a virtual card, which is already integrated with Apple Pay and Google Pay. Physical Visa cards are expected to follow later this year.

This is a challenge to the existing financial system. Bhatt, now part of the LemFi leadership, said, “Immigrants are always dealt a bad hand, especially if they’re coming from emerging markets – we need equitable access to credit for everyone. When the world is busy building an interplanetary life, we still can’t offer a bank account or credit card to someone from another country!”

Founded in 2021 by ex-OPay executives Ridwan Olalere and Rian Cochran, LemFi originally set out to simplify cross-border remittances. Since then, the startup has processed over $1 billion in monthly transactions and served more than two million users across the UK, US, Canada, and Europe.

With the acquisition of Pillar, LemFi secures Pillar’s FCA credit licence and aims to roll out advanced credit solutions, including personalised credit limits, alternative credit scoring using non-traditional data, and seamless integration with its core remittance services.

Net migration to the UK hit over 700,000 in 2022 and continues to increase. At the same time, the World Bank reports that remittance flows to low- and middle-income countries reached $685 billion in 2024, ascertaining the massive economic contribution of migrants globally.

With LemFi strengthening its footprint by leveraging the tech and talent of Pillar, the company is taking a chance to ensure that immigrants will become the cornerstone of the next wave of financial innovation.

“LemFi is already the go-to remittance service for customers sending money to over 30 countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America,” said Olalere. “We invite our customers and partners to grow with us as we build on our existing financial service offerings to scale LemFi into a fintech giant.”

As revealed by Africa: The Big Deal, that’s nearly 3.5 times more than the $85 million raised in January last year. This funding majorly came from the renewable energy, fintech, insurtech, and education sectors.

Investors are pouring money into Africa’s innovation sector, not allowing the challenges sway them. More than 90% of January’s funding—$262 million—came from equity deals, making it the second-largest January for startup equity financing since 2019, only behind the funding frenzy of 2022.

Big Money, Big Players

While there were 40 funding deals above $100,000 last month, the real game-changers were the 26 deals that were over $1 million—more than last year’s 21 high-value transactions. 

However, nearly 60% of the total funding was swallowed up by just four major deals, all originating from Africa’s biggest startup hubs: Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, and South Africa.

The biggest winners of the month were:

• PowerGen (Energy): Raised over $50 million to expand its distributed renewable energy solutions across Africa.
• LemFi (Fintech): Secured $53 million to push into Asia and Europe, proving African fintech is now a global export.
• Naked (Insurtech): Bagged $38 million in a Series B round to automate and diversify its insurance offerings.
• Enko Education: Pulled in $24 million to continue expanding its African school network.

Where Does This Leave the Rest of Us?

The tech sector is clearly off to a strong start in 2025, but this cash inflow is a big contrast to the financial issues of everyday Africans. While startups thrive, inflation keeps rising, wages remain stagnant, and the naira keeps playing hide and seek with stability.

Last year, African startups raised a total of $2.2 billion, a drop from the $2.9 billion in 2023, but the numbers show that there could be a rebound. 

If this pace continues, investors will keep betting big on Africa’s tech—even if the rest of the continent is left wondering when that wealth will finally trickle down.

The investment, which brings the company’s total funding to $85 million, was led by Highland Europe, with contributions from existing backers Left Lane Capital, Palm Drive Capital, Y Combinator, and Endeavor Catalyst.

Founded by Ridwan Olalere and Rian Cochran in 2020, LemFi has grown fast by supporting the diaspora communities in North America and Europe, providing reliable cross-border payment services. 

The platform, known for its multi-currency accounts and low-cost transfers, facilitates remittances to over 20 countries, including Nigeria, Kenya, India, and Pakistan.

This latest funding will enable LemFi to expand its payment network, acquire additional licences, and deepen its partnerships to deliver more localised services. 

Plans are also underway to introduce a payment card for customers in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada, alongside scaling recruitment efforts for its workforce of over 300 employees.

LemFi’s monthly transaction volume has surged to $1 billion, going beyond its annual transaction volume of $2 billion in 2023. Much of this growth has been attributed to its strong adoption in Asia, where the company’s transactions in the region now amount to $160 million monthly, with a 30% month-on-month growth rate.

In recent years, LemFi has gained traction by leveraging its user-friendly interface and solid fraud prevention measures.

According to Olalere, these have allowed the platform to maintain competitive prices, ensure trust, and achieve high customer retention, with approximately 70% of its earliest users still active today.

LemFi recently partnered with Modulr, an embedded finance provider, to kickstart its European operations. To boost its presence in the region, the company has acquired a Republic of Ireland-based firm, which will provide it with independent operational capabilities beginning next month.

This expansion builds on LemFi’s strategy of entering large remittance markets. After establishing operations in the US in 2023, the platform extended its services to countries like China, India, and Pakistan in 2024.

Its ability to adapt to complex regulatory environments and integrate seamlessly with various payment systems has been key to scaling efficiently.

With over one million active users, LemFi aims to evolve into a comprehensive financial hub for immigrants globally.

The company’s mission to simplify international payments and reduce costs aligns with the needs of emerging market economies, where remittances serve as a necessary source of foreign exchange.