Fast track to fintech success

The rise of mobile and digital banking over the last decade has helped more Africans gain access to finance in ways traditional banks have not, but there are still may adults across Africa who do not have access to digital financial services.

"I became obsessed with solving this problem," said Dr. Tarek Mouganie, founder and Group CEO of Affinity Africa, a digital bank that provides affordable and accessible services to micro, small and medium-sized businesses (MSMEs). "Not only is this a huge economic opportunity, but the impact around financial inclusion is massive."

With Affinity, micro business owners can access free checking, savings and investment accounts, straight from their phone without ever having to leave their home or business to travel to a branch or ATM.

Attention is good

Mouganie is a recent graduate of the Visa Accelerator Program, which connects fintech entrepreneurs around the world with Visa payment experts, product architects and business development teams to rapidly co-develop, test and iterate new solutions, while exposing them to Visa's extensive network of financial institutions, merchants and digital partners.

The Visa Accelerator Program helped the Affinity team look at where they could be most profitable and where to focus on growth before meeting with investors.

"It transformed our financial model and card projections just by getting access," said Mouganie.

Meeting face-to-face with investors through the program not only made an impact for the business, but taught Mouganie a valuable lesson.

"I tend to shy away from drawing attention. I just think build, build, build, and the results will speak for themselves. But for the first time, I moved away from that thinking and thought, actually no, attention is good."

Building trust, he noted, is a lot easier when you meet in person, especially in a challenging market.

"Now people are reaching out saying, 'We want to partner with you. We want to invest in you.' That was super useful," he said about the program.

Impacted by the system

Solvent is a mobile-first, all-in-one banking and financial empowerment platform for the financially excluded in the United States. CEO and founder Victor "DIVINE" Lombard describes himself as the "perfect founder fit," having lived the experience of Solvent's target audience.

"I come from the community that we're trying to empower," he said.

DIVINE grew up in what he describes as a negative and challenging environment in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, which subsequently led to his incarceration at 19 years old. He is one of 77 million individuals in the United States, approximately 1 in 3,1 who have a criminal record, which can limit career options, make it challenging to find a place to live and mark you as a credit risk.

Coming out of prison and experiencing all of the above, DIVINE advocated for prison reform with local groups in Northern California and immersed himself in entrepreneurship, working closely with a well-known venture capitalist, who mentored him in finance.

"There's an interplay of social ills that work together to keep people financially excluded and disadvantaged. One of those is poverty, of course. Another is mass incarceration and recidivism, going in and out of prison, and not being able to stabilize your life," said DIVINE.

Solvent, which is designed to empower those with a criminal record to rebuild their financial lives, offers credit repair products, a free debit card, no fee checking, and financial education that can help them break the cycle of poverty.

The Visa Accelerator Program helped Solvent hone in on the different aspects of the financial empowerment journey, from ideation to execution. "We have access to Visa-branded financial literacy content, which is going to be huge for us," he said. "Solvent is not about giving someone a handout, but rather a hand up."

The entrepreneurial kick

Open is a financial automation platform for SMEs that helps bring their banking, accounting and compliance into one platform.

"We stitched together Visa products into a common unified platform, like card issuance, the Cybersource payment gateway, risk management solutions and cross-border payments solutions," said Anish Achuthan, CEO and co-founder of India-based Open.

Before Anish graduated from the Visa Accelerator Program in 2022, Visa advisors suggested he offer a white-label solution for financial institutions. Together, Open and the Visa team talked to banks to understand their requirements.

"Visa helped us spot opportunities, fine-tune our business model and determine how we actually price it. And most importantly, how we integrate various Visa products." said Achuthan.

With its white-label solution, OPEN ultimately won the bid for deploying and managing the Internet banking platform of some of the countries largest banks. Visa has since become an investor in Open.

"We owe a lot of our success so far in our enterprise journey to Visa. Even after the Visa Accelerator Program, they are still engaged, making introductions to banks, jointly pitching and co-creating even new product ideas," said Achuthan.

For Achuthan, SME business owners in India and beyond are using Open to drive further success.

"When people say, Open helped me solve that thing, more than all the valuations, all the commercials, that's what really gives me that kick as an entrepreneur."

Learn more about the Visa Accelerator Program to fast track your startup globally.

Tag: Payment technology