Financial technology is rapidly transforming the financial services industry in emerging markets.
Companies are using technology to develop innovative payment solutions, digital lending platforms, and mobile banking services, expanding access to financial services for millions excluded from traditional systems.
Fingo came on my radar when they made the prestigious start-up accelerator YCombinator, Summer Batch of 2021.
According to their Crunchbase listing, they have raised $4.1 million across two rounds. It recently launched in Nairobi, flagging off its pan-African ambitions.
Fingo has identified its market as Africa’s Generation Z and Alpha. While offering a large total addressable market, tempering with the Living Standard Measure would paint a better picture of the opportunity - the Serviceable Obtainable Market.
That said, I remember Safaricom’s Youth focused tariff. Their value proposition funnelled millions of subscribers aged under 25 in a single market.
I have opined before that money wants to move for free and that transaction fees are racing to zero. Fingo has this as an anchor USP where account-to-account transfers are free.
Great for person-to-person movement. The challenge remains how to make the model work for their bottom line.
I hypothesise that Ecobank comes into play here, as they can put the money currently at rest to work through various financial instruments.
The savings concept that allows one to capture their own plan is welcome. Savings presupposes income. I am curious to see how they catalyse this part of the equation, given the target segment is young and often in a hurry.
Education to appreciate the value of time and compounding lacks in our curriculum. Most of us bump into it further along in life.
Cracking this to feed automated savings may be their best growth hack, along with figuring out leverage for quick liquidity.
Laudable is their payment link feature fitting for the gig/multi-work engagements their market is inclined to.
The QR code feature for making or requesting payments will gain prominence now that the KE QR code standard is in place.
It allows for interoperability across different payment service providers for a common user experience. Gen Z has the right adoption mindset.
Fingo employed smart acquisition for their funnel. They teased the market and took the opportunity to let some people in to tinker and break things with a much-publicised waitlist.
They used this feedback to iterate and iron out kinks. When I checked at launch, they had crossed 60,000 pre-registrations.
Overall a solid offering. With excellent customer service, high availability, and perchance two defensive moats for their pan-African play, Fingo should do well.
