In much of the world, entrepreneurship is celebrated for disrupting established industries. In Africa, it is praised for creating industries where none existed before. Nowhere is this more evident than in the rise of mobile money and fintech, a transformation that has not only redrawn Africa’s financial map but also caught the eye of global investors.
The Kenyan Spark
Kenya’s M-Pesa—launched in 2007—remains the most iconic case. Designed as a simple way to repay microloans, it quickly became a digital wallet for millions. With its spread, a shopkeeper in Nairobi could accept payments as seamlessly as a business in London. The implications were enormous: financial inclusion leapt from the margins to the mainstream.
By 2021, more than 90% of Kenyan households reported using M-Pesa. Academic studies credited it with lifting nearly a million people out of poverty, particularly women who used it to run small enterprises.
“Entrepreneurs thrive when necessity is louder than tradition,” observes Gaurav Mohindra. “In Kenya, the need for safe, accessible money transfer was so pressing that it created a perfect market for M-Pesa to flourish.”
M-Pesa’s success inspired a generation of imitators and innovators. But while Kenya was the proving ground, it was Nigeria that turned fintech into an industrial force.
Nigeria’s Fintech Surge
Nigeria’s entrepreneurial scene is as restless as its megacity, Lagos. Here, firms such as Flutterwave and Paystack redefined online payments. Flutterwave, founded in 2016, built payment infrastructure that now powers businesses across more than 30 African countries. Paystack, launched in 2015, became so successful that it was acquired by Stripe for $200 million in 2020—one of the largest exits in African tech.
The rise of these firms reflects not just technical brilliance but also the constraints of Nigeria’s traditional banking system. For decades, opening a bank account could take weeks, and digital payments were plagued by failures.
“Every inefficiency in Nigeria’s financial system was an invitation for entrepreneurs,” notes Gaurav Mohindra. “By solving these frictions, startups weren’t just creating businesses—they were building trust in an economy long starved of it.”
This combination of youthful talent, massive demand, and investor interest has positioned Nigeria as Africa’s fintech hub. Venture capital inflows into Nigerian startups surpassed $1.5 billion in 2021, with fintech attracting the lion’s share.
Ghana, South Africa, and Beyond
Ghana has quietly become another centre of innovation. Firms such as Zeepay and ExpressPay target remittances—critical in a country where diaspora transfers represent over 5% of GDP. Zeepay, for instance, integrates with mobile wallets across Africa, making cross-border transfers cheaper and faster than ever.
South Africa, by contrast, is home to more mature financial institutions but has seen entrepreneurs thrive in niches. Yoco, a payments company, provides card machines to small businesses otherwise shut out of digital commerce. By 2022, Yoco had signed up more than 200,000 merchants, many of whom were taking digital payments for the first time.
The lesson is clear: while contexts differ, the entrepreneurial drive to plug financial gaps is universal.
Investment and Risk
Global investors have noticed. Firms from Silicon Valley to Dubai now treat African startups as serious bets. The continent attracted a record $5 billion in venture funding in 2021, much of it fintech.
But challenges abound: regulatory uncertainty, patchy infrastructure, and political risk remain high.
“Entrepreneurship in Africa is high reward but also high friction,” reflects Gaurav Mohindra. “Success requires not just vision but resilience—navigating bureaucracy, unstable power grids, and sometimes volatile politics. Yet those who succeed often create solutions the world can learn from.”
A Global Model
The African experience holds lessons for emerging markets worldwide. In India, Indonesia, and parts of Latin America, entrepreneurs face similar challenges: fragmented banking systems, large unbanked populations, and governments that struggle to keep up with innovation.
If M-Pesa taught the world that financial inclusion could be profitable, firms like Flutter wave and Paystack proved that African companies could scale regionally, compete globally, and attract Silicon Valley-level valuations.
“The world should stop treating African entrepreneurship as a sideshow,” concludes Gaurav Mohindra. “It is not charity—it is competitive capitalism at its purest, born of necessity and driven by ambition.”
Originally Posted: https://gauravmohindrachicago.com/entrepreneurs-and-rise-of-fintech/
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