Cross-border fee is probably the most bankable buzzword in finance proper now and just about the facet of tech that offers with heft cash. Globally, monies that crossed borders in 2024 reached $194.8 trillion.
It’s turning into necessary in how we work. Freelancers have to receives a commission from international employers. Digital nomads want their cash to cross borders with them. Companies of all sizes make funds to deliver shipments into their residence international locations. College students finding out overseas wish to withdraw the cash despatched to them from residence, and diasporan Africans wish to ship the identical again residence.
This demand is driving fintechs to construct rails that permit cash movement easily throughout borders. There’s a joke that in case you shake a tree, any tree, a remittance fintech will fall. However these startups are overlooking one vital facet of cross-border funds: intra-African funds.
The issue with intra-African funds
Nnenna Nkata, a Nigerian who went to school in Ghana, and accomplished her grasp’s within the UK, has seen each worlds and witnessed the problem firsthand. Monirates was her resolution to what she describes as “the tougher drawback.”
“The thought [for Monirates] got here once we realised that we might see completely different fintech startups on the market and the assorted technique of sending cash from the diaspora to Africa,” mentioned Nkata. “However as a pupil in Ghana, it was virtually troublesome to ship cash from Ghana to Nigeria.” Each international locations are a few one-hour flight aside.
It wasn’t simply troublesome. At one level, she needed to transfer throughout borders with ₦150,000 ($750)* in her purse—tuition charges in money—as a result of digital choices had been restricted, unreliable, or inaccessible. The shortage of options wasn’t a bug within the system; it was the system.
“As an undergraduate, I didn’t actually realise the impact of this,” she mentioned. “I took it as a norm.”
That modified when she moved to the UK for graduate faculty. There, sending a reimbursement residence meant opening 5 apps, evaluating charges, and finishing transactions in minutes.
The arguments for why the issue with intra-African funds persists are acquainted: there are 42 completely different currencies in Africa, and rules, like funds, are fragmented. The place Europe has the Euro and North America spans solely three primary currencies, Africa is a patchwork quilt.
Discovering workarounds
Again in 2013, when Nkata schooled at Accra Institute of Expertise in Ghana, she and her friends relied on Ecobank automated teller machines (ATMs) to withdraw money. If you happen to had a Nigerian-issued Ecobank card, you might withdraw money in cedis from ATMs in Ghana and different international locations the place Ecobank operated. For a time, it labored.
Then got here Central Financial institution rules in Nigeria that positioned limits on worldwide ATM withdrawals. First $300 per day. Then $100 monthly. Ultimately, transactions stopped altogether.
“In some unspecified time in the future—I believe in my last yr—I needed to transfer with money,” Nkata recalled. “There was no technique to transfer the cash. You couldn’t even open a checking account as a Nigerian pupil in Ghana.”
Cell cash, whereas extensively adopted in Ghana, had limits too. It couldn’t deal with the big, one-time funds wanted for tuition or lease. The fallback was to hold money throughout borders, change it on the border unofficially, and hope nothing went incorrect.
“It felt such as you had been smuggling gold when touring with money,” she mentioned, laughing. “It got here with lots of threat and stress.”
Her former co-founder—who was a classmate at Accra Institute of Expertise—a dealer working throughout Ghana, Guinea, and Nigeria, needed to do the identical. With each founders dwelling via the problems of on a regular basis funds throughout borders, Monirates started to take form.
Constructing intra-African funds rails from scratch
The product began out as a peer-to-peer software, one thing light-weight that allowed customers switch funds straight to 1 one other. However after two months, it pivoted. Escrow wasn’t scalable. What they wanted was actual infrastructure: rails that would help direct transfers and fast settlements.
“We constructed our infrastructure from scratch. Each single line of code,” Nkata mentioned. “Ultimately, we agreed that there was no level plugging right into a system we couldn’t management.”
This choice outlined the corporate’s trajectory. They moved from a shopper funds software to an infrastructure supplier—an “infrastructure-as-a-service” firm for tech-enabled companies shifting cash inside Africa.
However the hurdles stored coming. Intra-African fee is complicated not solely due to the variety of currencies, however due to how disconnected the regulatory frameworks are throughout areas.
“If you wish to help even 1 / 4 of Africa, you’re taking a look at 20 completely different currencies. Meaning 20 completely different rules, 20 completely different central banks, and 20 completely different infrastructures,” mentioned Nkata.
Growth wasn’t only a matter of plugging into a brand new market. It typically meant beginning over.
“In Ghana, for instance, it is advisable to register your online business there, and considered one of your board members needs to be Ghanaian,” she mentioned. “It’s like launching a brand new startup each time.”
The extra she appeared on the drawback, the extra she realised most gamers within the ecosystem had been solely doing the straightforward elements.
“What we noticed had been companies on the market who advised clients, ‘We may help you accumulate fee and pay outright,’ which is okay. However two downsides to that was you might accumulate, however how do you change?,” she requested. “If you happen to discover a technique to convert, settlements turn into a problem. T+2, T+3. Some can go so far as T+5 days,” she mentioned, referring to how lengthy it will possibly take for a enterprise to obtain its cash.
“Then the fee is approach too excessive. You might be charged 2%, 3% to gather fee from a buyer in Uganda, for instance. Add that to the price of FX and the settlement delay, and the enterprise case falls aside,” Nkata added.
That’s why Monirates selected to construct a full stack: assortment, conversion, and payout. Its rails are designed to maneuver cash throughout corridors with low latency and low value, making intra-African commerce financially viable once more.
A brand new quest to energy Africa’s SME economic system
Whereas Monirates continues to serve people, the corporate is leaning closely into B2B. Their companions are procurement platforms, logistics corporations, and commerce networks—companies with recurring, high-value transactions.
“Companies transfer more cash,” Nkata mentioned. “And once they belief you with their fee wants, it forces you to construct extra dependable programs.”
One such shopper is Brydge, a pan-African commerce firm. Monirates powers its cross-border fee flows, permitting them to deal with the remainder of the provision chain with out worrying about delayed settlements or unofficial brokers.
The way forward for Monirates additionally contains stablecoins. The corporate is constructing capability to permit clients to ship funds in digital currencies comparable to USDC and USDT. These funds then settle in native African currencies.
“Stablecoin is the quickest and easiest method proper now,” she mentioned. “It helps us bridge corridors the place we don’t but have native liquidity.”
Beneath all of it, Monirates can also be investing in fraud prevention. Their inside system tracks patterns like repeated transfers, irregular intervals, and matching habits that implies abuse or circumvention. With over 15 fraud indicators being monitored, the system is continually evolving.
“Every little thing is taken care of,” Nkata mentioned. “You’ll be able to’t scale on this area in case you don’t take compliance significantly.”
Doing the laborious half
For now, Monirates helps each people and companies—however its power is behind enterprise infrastructure. Enterprise customers at the moment make up solely 10% of their consumer base however account for considerably greater quantity.
“That’s the place our head is,” she mentioned. “Constructing for enterprise purchasers, as a result of that’s the place the impression and progress are.”
The corporate’s mission is to construct Africa’s fee engine; one which helps intra-African commerce, scales throughout regulation, and displays the financial ties that exist already between international locations.
That future isn’t far-fetched. With instruments just like the Pan-African Cost and Settlement System (PAPSS), the African Continental Free Commerce Space (AfCFTA) frameworks, and stablecoin rails in improvement, Monirates is entering into an area that was as soon as uncared for. Nevertheless it’s nonetheless laborious work. Each hall is a brand new language, a brand new legislation, a brand new bottleneck to unravel.
“You’ll be able to’t construct African commerce with out African funds,” Nkata mentioned. “And you may’t construct African funds in case you’re not keen to undergo the laborious half.”
* The alternate fee used within the article is ₦200/$1 in 2015.
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