African fintech startups must think bigger in a connected world
African fintech companies must think holistically about customer needs, as we live in the most connected generation the world has ever seen.
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African fintech companies must think holistically about customer needs, as we live in the most connected generation the world has ever seen.
This was a key takeaway from one of The Borderless Experience by Condia panel sessions titled “The African Consumer is Already Borderless. And So Is Their Money: Earning, saving, and investing across currencies, including stablecoins.”
Richard Oyome, Co-founder & Chief Operating Officer at Raenest; Joshua Chibueze, Co-founder & CMO, PiggyVest; and Dr Ola Brown, Founder and General Partner, HealthCap Africa explored how Africans are earning, saving, and investing across currencies and using stablecoins.
“It is time to broaden our focus to the overall business since there is significant demand from everyday consumers, not only from freelancers or people living in the diaspora who wish to send money home,” Oyome said. “We all know someone who has moved from Nigeria to the US, the UK or even Canada. These people still wish to patronise local Nigerian merchants. Our solutions should address this broader need: enabling ordinary people to send, receive, and spend money seamlessly across borders.”
Chibueze focused on growing with the customer as their needs and wants evolve. “Immediate priority should be to build products that support customers as their lives and financial needs evolve,” he said.
“Many of them are advancing in their careers, taking on new roles, increasing their income, and moving up professionally. Customers who used to save ₦20,000 monthly now routinely hold ₦2 million to ₦3 million. Given this shift, our product strategy focuses on developing solutions that help customers build and sustain wealth more consistently over time.”
From the investment angle, Dr. Ola Brown emphasised that investors just want to beat the market average. “Most investors are looking for better returns and just want investments that will do better than the general economy,” she said. “If the general economy is 5%, investors want instruments that can deliver returns of 8% or 9%.”
The panel ended with a consensus: Money has gone borderless. It’s no longer limited to one group of people; it now includes and connects everyone, everywhere. This milestone will fundamentally change how money moves across the world.
