The Memorandum of Understanding was signed at the Africa Credit Expo (ACE) 2025 by Dr Jameelah Sharrieff-Ayedun, MD/CEO of CreditRegistry, and Mrs Maureen Mba, head of the MANSA Digital Initiative at Afreximbank.

The agreement links Nigeria’s pioneering credit bureau with MANSA, Afreximbank’s flagship due diligence platform under the Africa Trade Gateway, a digital ecosystem created to unlock intra-African trade.

MANSA acts as a single trusted source of KYC and compliance data for businesses, banks and SMEs, helping firms prove their credibility in both regional and global markets. 

During the signing, Mrs Mba noted MANSA’s purpose: “deepen cross-border trust and equip African businesses with the credibility and confidence that they need to thrive in global trade.”

Both institutions say the collaboration will help African businesses gain visibility and credibility in regional and global markets. They describe the partnership as a joint initiative aimed at closing long-standing gaps in identity, verification and financial literacy across the continent.

Under the partnership, CreditRegistry and Afreximbank will onboard thousands of African businesses onto the MANSA platform. They will also deliver financial literacy and compliance training to MSMEs, build capacity for responsible borrowing, and create a more transparent environment for cross-border transactions. 

The institutions say this will make more African enterprises “visible, credible and bankable.”

The signing also highlighted CreditRegistry’s long history in enhancing Nigeria’s credit infrastructure. Dr Sharrieff-Ayedun recalled how millions of Africans had long faced blocked opportunities due to the lack of verifiable credit history. 

That changed when CreditRegistry established Nigeria’s first credit bureau, an effort that later introduced biometric technology into credit reporting and helped pave the way for the Bank Verification Number system.

Over the years, the organisation supported several initiatives to expand financial literacy. These include the Africa Consumer Credit Academy and public awareness programmes that reached more than a million Nigerians. 

Last year alone, the group completed 73 webinars and in-person sessions sponsored by industry partners. The company has also launched youth-focused initiatives, such as Project Launchpad, designed to guide young Africans towards financial independence.

Another ongoing initiative, “On The Streets: Naija Tours,” captures real voices and personal stories about the meaning of credit, financial struggles and the desire for better opportunities. 

These programmes, the organisers said, align with the everyday realities of young Africans, many of whom are ambitious but lack guidance and access to credit tools.

The Africa Credit Expo itself has evolved into a regional point of convergence, bringing together regulators, innovators and more than 90 stakeholders from across the continent. Its mission is to connect, empower and ensure trust in Africa’s financial systems.

CreditRegistry and Afreximbank aim to enhance that mission. Their shared commitment, they said, is to strengthen the backbone of Africa’s financial ecosystem and push the continent closer to a self-sustaining future where businesses can trade with confidence across borders.

The financing round, which includes both equity and debt, was co-led by Polymorphic Capital with participation from other investors, including Octerra Capital, Faculty Group, and Trive Digital.

The funding will enable the company to expand its operations into Latin America and Southeast Asia, regions facing similar liquidity issues.

MANSA focuses on improving cash flow for payment providers by offering real-time liquidity solutions. Instead of traditional lending methods that require collateral, the company underwrites loans using transaction data, providing a more flexible and efficient approach.

“Our partnership with Tether is so consequential and why we’re working very closely together to make it the primary stablecoin in emerging markets,” said MANSA’s CEO, Mouloukou Sanoh.

Founded by Sanoh and Nkiru Uwaje, MANSA has quickly grown in the payments sector. Sanoh, an experienced investor in African fintechs, previously worked at web3 VC firm Adaverse, while Uwaje was formerly an innovation manager at SWIFT and led blockchain strategy for Dell in the UK and Ireland.

The startup’s model is particularly relevant in emerging markets where payment providers often struggle with liquidity shortages, leading to delayed transactions and increased costs. 

According to MANSA, cross-border payments are projected to reach $290.2 trillion annually by 2030, and inefficiencies in the system could result in huge financial losses for businesses.

Beyond Africa, where MANSA has been primarily active, the company is now targeting Latin America and Southeast Asia, aiming to provide the same liquidity solutions to businesses facing similar challenges. 

To support this expansion, it has secured $7 million in liquidity funding from institutions, including corporate investors, quantitative funds, and hedge funds.

MANSA reports strong growth since its launch in August 2024. The company’s transaction volume surged from $1.6 million in its first month to $11 million in January 2025, with a compounded monthly growth rate of 37.5%.

So far, MANSA has processed nearly $31 million in transactions and expects to reach a $1 billion total payment volume run rate this year.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino stated that the stablecoin provider is “proud to collaborate with MANSA and support their efforts to reshape global payment infrastructure.”

In addition to its liquidity solutions, MANSA is investing in regulatory compliance. The company has brought on industry veterans, including the former head of HSBC North Asia and the chief legal officer of Franklin Templeton, to strengthen its oversight. 

MANSA’s compliance measures include AML checks, sanction screening, KYC, KYB, transaction monitoring, and blockchain analytics tools.

Moving forward, the company plans to expand beyond liquidity provision. “We’re starting by being the primary liquidity provider to the biggest payment companies across emerging markets,” Sanoh explained.

“From there, we can handle payouts and also offer additional services like foreign exchange. The goal is to create a one-stop payment platform where they can finance their payments, settle transactions instantly, and access foreign currency seamlessly—all in one place.”

With a growing client base that includes B2B payment platforms, virtual card providers, stablecoin infrastructure companies, forex platforms, and remittance firms, MANSA’s impact on the global payments landscape is expected to deepen.

The company claims that clients using its solutions have already seen a 30% increase in transaction volumes and a 10% boost in revenue.

Vitaly Spassky, managing partner, Polymorphic Capital, said Mansa is here to disrupt a massive traditional market with blockchain and the Web3 paradigm. “Polymorphic supports extraordinary founders. The Mansa team is up to this incredible challenge.”

Ashim Egunjobi, managing partner, Octerra Capital, also stated: “We invested in MANSA because of their bold, diverse, high-calibre team of visionary founders addressing critical challenges faced by payments companies in Emerging Markets. We firmly believe that decentralized finance and asset tokenization are game-changing frontier technologies. With immense market potential in emerging economies, MANSA is uniquely positioned to drive transformative impact and bridge the credit gap across Africa.”

“We are incredibly excited to have been the first investor in Mansa. Our decision to invest was driven primarily by our strong confidence in the leadership team, and we are certain they will continue to validate our belief. Additionally, we are thrilled about the future of crypto payments and Mansa’s potential to make transactions in emerging markets faster, cheaper, and more efficient,” Sebastian Cheek, head of Investment, Faculty Group

Shawn Tan, general partner, TRIVE Digital, commented that MANSA addresses a fundamental liquidity challenge in cross-border payments, leveraging stablecoins to create more efficient and accessible financial rails. “TRIVE Digital backs visionary founders building the future of Web3, and we are excited to support the MANSA team as they drive transformative impact in the global payments industry.”

This further thrusts Mansa’s mission to democratise financing access for African businesses, even as it leverages Base, a secure and cost-effective Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain developed by Coinbase, to deliver more efficient and accessible financial services. 

Mansa’s new offerings include innovative pools for remittance and stablecoin liquidity, helping African businesses secure more affordable capital.

The company’s approach allows venture-backed businesses to use a wide range of assets as collateral, significantly expanding the pool of potential borrowers. 

As institutional adoption of this model accelerates, Mansa’s innovative approach and strategic partnerships will play an important role in shaping the future of finance in emerging markets. 

With boots on the ground in Africa and the UK, Mansa works closely with African businesses to fuel their growth with trade finance and cross-border payments liquidity. 

“We’re thrilled to launch our new liquidity pool on Base,” said Mouloukou Sanoh, CEO and co-founder of Mansa.

“This move will help businesses overcome USD limitations and manual processes that have long-constrained growth. Our platform unlocks new sources of liquidity, directly addressing the credit gap in emerging markets.”

Emerging markets, particularly in Africa, face a substantial financing gap that hinders business growth and economic expansion. Timely and cutting-edge solutions like DeFi are essential for the continued growth of these rapidly advancing economies.

Mansa leverages blockchain technology to offer transparent and accessible means of trading and managing assets.

In connecting businesses with global investors, the platform is creating next-generation financial infrastructure that overcomes traditional barriers such as lack of financial services and FX constraints. 

This forward-thinking approach is particularly beneficial for regions like Africa, where such limitations have historically impacted growth.

Sanoh is said to have stepped down to launch Mansa, a new fintech for African businesses.

Mouloukou’s departure comes after a transformative year leading the company.

His leadership laid the foundation for Cassava’s accelerated growth in Africa. During his tenure, he cultivated a formidable network of collaborators, uniting prominent Web2 and Web3 brands such as Boomplay, Carry1st, Scooper, VSkit, Ficool, BoundlessPay, Stakefair, Katana Inu, Awujo, and others under the Cassava banner.

Reflecting on his departure, Mouloukou commented;

“The journey at Cassava Network has been nothing short of awe-inspiring. Our achievements in paving the way for Web3 in Africa speak volumes about the unyielding support from our team, board, and community leaders.”

Since its inception in 2021, Cassava Network has been an avant-garde force, driving blockchain infrastructure needed to transition Africa into the Web3 era. By introducing a digital identity system, multi-chain wallet, rewards platform, and NFTs, it has championed the migration from Web2 to Web3, fostering a thriving community along the way.

“It has been an exceptional privilege to contribute towards the Web3 renaissance across Africa. However, the time is ripe for a leadership transition at Cassava Network and for me to invest my efforts in a new venture,” Mouloukou shared.

As for his next chapter, Mouloukou Sanoh is turning his focus to the credit issue crippling SMEs in Africa. His new company, Mansa, is a protocol that addresses current DeFi lending protocols’ major shortcoming: the requirement for borrowers to provide an excess of cryptocurrency collateral. This requirement stifles potential borrowers globally.

Mansa’s innovative approach enables venture-backed businesses to leverage a myriad of assets as collateral, providing crypto access to a significantly larger pool of borrowers. By embracing this forward-thinking model, Mansa is poised to shatter the limitations of traditional financial systems and introduce a new era of decentralised finance.

Mansa’s goal is to “democratise access to financing for businesses in emerging markets,” providing tailored financing solutions to businesses through blockchain technology.

By connecting businesses with global investors and lenders, Mansa aims to bridge the gap between traditional financial systems and the evolving world of decentralised finance.