Monirates, the fast-growing fintech reengineering how money moves across African borders, has recently hit a major milestone, surpassing ₦1 billion in cross-border transactions. Built to fix the broken rails of intra-African payments, the company has facilitated seamless FX conversions, cross-border settlements, and API-driven payouts for real users and businesses across the continent.
In this exclusive conversation with TechsomaAfrica, CEO and Co-founder of Monirates, Nnenna Nkata reflects on the regulatory hurdles, technical breakthroughs, and product pivots that shaped Monirates’ journey. She also breaks down what float as a service means, how the team is thinking about Africa’s real economy, and why the next billion will come from deeper regulatory partnerships and product integration.
We spoke with her shortly after the company’s ₦1 billion milestone to unpack what it took to get here, and what’s ahead.
You recently closed an incredible milestone of ₦1 billion in transactions. Congratulations.
Nnenna: Yes. Thank you very much.
What was the exact pain point that made you believe intra-African payments needed a new kind of infrastructure?
Nnenna: Thank you. For us, it was more about the need for ease and access. I’ll give you a scenario.
My co-founder and I studied in Ghana from 2013 to 2016. At the time, we could use our Ecobank Nigeria cards to withdraw cash in Ghana, and it was pretty fantastic. But eventually, new regulations came in, and things started getting frustrating. Suddenly, you couldn’t do that anymore. You had to carry physical cash.
Then limits were placed on Nigerian bank cards. First, it was a $100 limit for intra-Africa transactions or even for international use. Then it dropped to $50. Eventually, it was reduced to zero. That made things really difficult. Paying school fees, for example, became a major hurdle. We either had to carry physical cash or resort to using bureau de change agents and other informal options.
Fast forward to 2019–2020, when we were doing our master’s in the UK. That’s when we realized just how big this problem really was — it wasn’t just a surface-level issue. In the UK, we noticed there were several platforms for moving money easily, from Africa to the diaspora and vice versa. But when it came to sending money from Nigeria to even nearby places like Cotonou, Togo, or Ghana, it was still unnecessarily complicated.
So in 2022, we began doing deep research and started conceptualizing Monirates. We wanted to understand why no one seemed to be building proper infrastructure around intra-African payments. Everyone was focused on diaspora remittances. But as we looked closer, we realized the problem ran deeper than we initially thought, there were significant infrastructure and regulatory challenges. Different countries meant different currencies, and the African market is far from small.
Eventually, we discovered that a huge part of the challenge wasn’t just about individuals sending money. SMEs and businesses trading across Africa faced major difficulties too. That was a turning point for us. We decided to build something meaningful with Monirates.
Initially, Monirates launched as a P2P (peer-to-peer) solution. We started integrating with a few tech players already active in the fintech space. But the cost of doing collections and payments using third-party integrated solutions was high, and that’s one big reason why you don’t see many people offering intra-African solutions. The cost and regulatory complexities are real.
We gave the P2P model a shot, but the cost of integration made it unsustainable. It wasn’t smooth at all. So we pivoted. We launched our MVP in January 2024, then we pivoted in June, it was a very short time. We spent over a year building. By the time we got to the market, the market told us, no, you think you have a solution, but that’s not a solution to what we want.
So we moved quickly. We shifted from P2P to B2C, focusing on individual users. Eventually, we moved our way to an Uber kind of model. Right now, Monirates operates as a closed group, not open to the general public. We’re using an agency-based model where we have settlement partners and agents in various African countries.
To support this, we built a back-office infrastructure that now powers Monirates. Between June 2024 and January 2025, we reached a more stable point for our individual users. That’s when we decided to turn our focus to business clients.
Given the challenges we faced ourselves while building Monirates, we knew that other businesses, especially tech-enabled startups that require tech integrations will most likely face the problem we had. So we launched our API and built a B2B portal. It’s designed for both no-code users and those who want to integrate FX solutions for trade, procurement, or any kind of intra-African financial activity. With our system, we handle embedment, collection, conversion, and settlement instantly at the same time.
That API was just rolled out recently, and we’re currently piloting it. Now, businesses can leverage it to build or enhance their own financial products. We’re not keeping this to ourselves, we want others to use it and benefit from it.
It’s been a journey, and not a smooth one. But with the addition of our B2B product in February and early March, we were able to hit that major milestone we recently announced.
So yes, it’s been tough. But every step has brought us closer to building a reliable, scalable solution for moving money across African borders.
Hitting ₦1 billion in cross-border volume is no small milestone. What specific corridors or transaction types contributed the most to this achievement?
Nnenna: I would say B2B contributed to about half. About 50% of that volume came from B2B, largely because we just launched our B2B services this year. Prior to that, we had been operating B2C for around seven to eight months.
In terms of specific corridors within Africa, we’ve observed some rankings. Nigeria is one of the highest in terms of transaction volume among all the corridors we support. Other key corridors include Nigeria-Ghana, Nigeria-Kenya, and Nigeria-Malawi. We also have a mix of USD settlements contributing to the overall volume.
What were the hardest technical or regulatory hurdles you had to overcome to move money across African borders at scale?
Nnenna: We’re not fully at that level yet, we’re just shooting that now. I wouldn’t say we’ve completely overcome the hurdles. Right now, we’re in the process of raising funds so we can acquire the necessary licenses that will allow us to scale faster and more effectively.
What we’ve done so far is leverage existing licensed partnerships across the countries we operate in. For example, in Ghana, to integrate directly, you must be incorporated locally and hold a Central Bank of Ghana license. It’s the same in Nigeria.
So instead of holding our own licenses in each country, we’ve been operating through licensed partners. However, that doesn’t mean we won’t acquire our own licenses. In Kenya, for instance, we’re currently working with local partners, but we aim to get full regulatory coverage there as well once we complete our fundraising.
One reason we haven’t been too visible publicly is because we’re still working on the regulatory and compliance front. In Nigeria, for example, we’re looking to secure an IMTO license and any other permits that might be required.
“Float-as-a-Service” is part of your messaging. Can you unpack what this means for non-fintech founders and how it changes the game for liquidity?
Nnenna: Float-as-a-Service provides both tech-enabled and non-tech-enabled businesses with the essential FX services needed for payments. Our Float-as-a-Service operates as a three-way solution: we help you collect, we help you convert, and then we help you settle, instantly.
This means you don’t have to worry about pre-funding or handling foreign exchange complexities. We handle the entire process, collection, conversion, and settlement, without holding your funds. There’s no need for pre-funding on your part. It functions as an FX-as-a-Service model where, when you need it, you get it immediately.
Many platforms claim to solve cross-border payments — what makes Monirates API rails genuinely different in terms of speed, cost, or transparency?
Nnenna: Okay, so on our Float-as-a-Service offering, we have a rate endpoint. We have our rate API that provides real-time updates on exchange rates. We’ve tested this across different businesses in terms of affordability and cost, and our rates are one of the best you’ll find. I personally ran some comparisons with Flutterwave’s Send product for intra-African payments, and our rates held up very well.
When it comes to rates, our system is open and transparent. There are no hidden fees. What sets us apart is that you don’t typically see FX APIs that work seamlessly across Africa. What you would see is APIs that will enable you to collect payments or make payouts
For instance, after collecting payments from customers, the process of converting that money, say, from Ghanaian cedis to Nigerian naira usually requires you to engage in manual negotiations with providers like Paystack, Flutterwave, or others. Settlement then becomes a delayed process: T+1, T+2, sometimes even T+4. I’ve spoken with businesses that have had to wait four business days to get their funds, despite paying an additional 2–3% in fees.
Our Float-as-a-Service changes that. Settlement is instant. As we are confirming the payment from your customers, or as we are confirming the payment from your end, we are settling instantly. So if you are receiving Ghana cedis, you get your Naira instantly, same hour, most time, same minute.
It’s a seamless, three-way process triggered by a single API call: collection, conversion, and settlement. Everything happens in real time until the transaction is complete and the funds are in your hands. That’s the game-changer we’re bringing. Immediate visibility and access to your money, with no delays or uncertainty.
Who are the typical clients using Monirates today and what surprised you most about how they’re using your platform?
Nnenna: Yes, some of the corridors surprised us. I’ll give you an example. When we started with Malawi, we didn’t fully anticipate the level of activity we’d see there. There are corridors we initially supported based on optimism. We knew trade was happening in those regions. But what surprised us was that some of the corridors we expected to have high trade volumes didn’t see as much payment activity as we thought. Conversely, there were other corridors that turned out to be far more active than expected.
For instance, Nigeria shares more trade borders with Ghana than with Kenya, yet we’ve seen substantial transaction volumes in the Nigeria-Kenya corridor, as well as a similar pattern with Malawi.
In terms of business segments, most of the transactions on our platform are businesses paying invoices, trade payments, procurement, and general settlement. These are largely high-volume transactions. We also have a mix of lower-volume transactions from individuals and SMEs.
What does this milestone tell you about the real economy of Africa that doesn’t often make it into glossy fintech narratives?
Nnenna: This is truly a story on its own. There’s a huge market in Africa, but the reality is that the majority of transactions are still cash-dominated. These are the people we are targeting, those heavily involved in cash-based trade. A lot of this trade occurs within Africa, but because it takes place through informal sectors, much of it isn’t captured in formal market data.
One initiative we’re aligning with is the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which aims to increase intra-African trade from the current 15% to 30%. There’s a growing trend around solving intra-African payment challenges, and I believe that with the right solutions, supportive regulations, and more countries signing into the AfCFTA framework, these transactions will increasingly be reflected in the formal economy.
Africa, on its own, is a big market. By 2035, with the momentum AfCFTA is building and with innovative solutions emerging, intra-African trade is projected to grow to $450 billion, that’s nearly half of the global remittance volume into Africa. So yes, the market is huge, and we’re just getting started.
Can you give us a behind-the-scenes look into your team culture — who built this infrastructure, and how have you sustained such momentum?
Nnenna: We’ve had people come and go, but we’ve also had team members who have contributed immensely to bringing us to where we are today. We operate with a very small team because we’ve been bootstrapping from the start, so we’ve intentionally kept things lean.
Our tech team has been heavily focused on development. Our CTO leads the development team and oversees all things related to infrastructure, DevOps, and technical builds. We also have a fantastic product manager who plays a crucial role in keeping the team aligned and moving forward.
As a fully remote team, we make it a point to catch up daily. These check-ins help us stay on track, assess the progress of ongoing tasks, and maintain clear communication, much like the regular stand-ups you see in most teams.
At the core, we’re just a small group of people who genuinely believe in what we’re building, and we’re building it together.
What do you believe is the next billion to unlock — is it more corridors, new product layers, or deeper integrations with banks and regulators?
Nnenna: Yes, we’re looking at deeper integrations with banks and regulators, as well as enhancing our existing products. We’re not in a rush to open up entirely new corridors just yet, because we already have a few key ones covered. Our priority is to strengthen our presence within those existing corridors before expanding further.
Expansion comes with significant costs, so we want to first solidify our regulatory relationships and banking integrations. Once we’re well-positioned, we can then begin to scale more effectively.
How can builders across Africa plug into Monirates — and what should startups or platforms look for when choosing payment infrastructure partners?
Nnenna: Okay. You should look out for stability. On the FX side—which is where we operate—you should consider three key things: exchange rates, availability of liquidity, and overall stability. Availability and affordability are crucial, especially when factoring in the cost of FX.
For those interested in using our product, we offer a no-code portal where businesses can sign up and go live almost instantly. Our API is also very easy to integrate. You go live within a day.
If you’re a developer or a tech-enabled business interested in embedding our product, simply sign up on our developer platform. You’ll get access to our API, which allows you to test and integrate it into your product. Once you’re ready to go live, just let us know, and we’ll give you access to the production environment.
Any tech-enabled business looking to collect or send payments across Africa can leverage our product to seamlessly integrate payment functionality into their solution.
What’s your boldest prediction for the future of intra-African payments in the next 3–5 years?
Nnenna: So the vision is, one Africa, one payment rail. The hope is that this vision becomes a reality so we can be truly integrated as a continent when it comes to payments.
Payment has to be simplified. So the bigger picture is creating a single, unified payment system across Africa, where it’s easy to send money to anyone, regardless of where they are on the continent.
Finally, what’s the message you want African regulators and central banks to hear from this milestone — and what kind of partnerships do you want going forward?
Nnenna: Yes, we would like to partner with regulators to see how we can collaboratively drive this solution forward. To be honest, I’m not entirely sure how our approach will be received by regulators at this stage, especially since we still need to acquire the necessary licenses.
So, the message we’re putting out is one of pilot testing. This is where we currently are. We’re open to dialogue, ready to integrate, and fully committed to complying with all required regulations. We’re also open to partnering with existing banks to support and scale what we’re building.
Moving Ahead
Monirates is laying the rails for Africa’s real economy to scale. With ₦1 billion in volume already crossed, an evolving API infrastructure, and eyes on regulatory partnerships, the company is quietly building what could become one of Africa’s most important payment networks. As Nnenna puts it, this is just the beginning.
