When visa Invest in Nigerian FinTech Moniepoint Earlier this year, it not only verified the newly cast unicorn—it marked a bold new direction.
As part of the agreement, Nigerian FinTech is known for building one of Africa’s largest commercial banking platforms, suggesting plans to integrate with Visa Direct, a move that will free up remittances and cross-border services on the international payment track.
Now, with the launch Monieworldstarting with the UK-Nigeria Corridor, it has for the first time dabbled in diaspora-centric financial services. But it’s not just another drama about the amount of money being remittanced. “We are not going to be a remittance app,” he told TechCrunch. “We are building a proper immigration banking platform.”
This is an ambitious move. The remittance space, especially the UK-Nigeria Corridor, is one of the most crowded fintech verticals in Africa. from Lemfisend and Nara Immigration has many options for Zepz and Taptap sending. With a sleek user experience, low fees and years of brand equity, these incumbents have defined the space.
For most new immigrants, choosing a remittance app is one of the earliest financial decisions they usually make through word of mouth. This means that Monieworld is not only going to be late, but also has to be in trouble with the incumbent who have already been deeply rooted in daily habits.
While Moniepoint’s entry brought in size and credibility, some observers questioned whether the market needed another remittance platform.
Eniolorunda said Monieworld wants to help new immigrants stay in touch with their families and obligations when they settle abroad. Although there is little differentiation (remittance) on the former product or pricing, a quick browsing of the Monieworld website will show better pricing than other platforms.
But this itself is not a moat, usually a competition at the bottom. Even Eniolorunda agreed: “We are not going to say that we are the cheapest here,” the CEO said. “However, since we already have the technology we have, are working on tracks, and have already achieved economies of scale in many places, this means we have the ability to cheapen our customers.”
Moniepoint has spent years building infrastructure in Nigeria, from payments and cards to credit and compliance for businesses and more recently retail consumers. Its argument is that immigrants who reused the same stack can bring more value than independent remittance applications.
“We already offer easy-to-use, affordable products in Nigeria and now we offer payments, credit software and debit and credit card services to our businesses and consumers,” Eniolorunda said. “We believe that to complete the cycle, we can also provide the same services to our market among the diaspora.”
Find your place in a crowded market
Remittance is the entry point. But the long-term goal he said is to provide a wider range of financial tools, such as building credit. This is the vertical industry that the United States took off in the United States over the past few years Digital platforms such as ZOVEL Help immigrants access financial services, starting with a wedge instead of remittance (pillar It’s a similar company in the UK).
“When you go into a new country, you need to build a credit history. People try to find their place and find their position in the new country, and it would be a great thing for them if they can find a platform that understands its scenario and helps build credit,” Meanwhile, the other features that Monieworld can offer are still clinging to other features.
Remittances flow from the UK More than £9.3 billion 2023. Nigerians abroad sent home More than $20 billionAccording to the World Bank. This is a corridor that many players may exist and have a considerable market share. But with these players competing for price or speed (all are now commoditized), Eniolorunda believes that only a few can win by providing an excellent experience.
As Moniepoint’s local footprint in African countries such as Kenya deepens, it plans to launch the Monieworld corridor for those expats in the UK, the US or Canada, and the next reasonable step. The model will allow a decade-old fintech to inspire its heavy Nigerian business by spreading its exposure.
Still, the challenge is real: Moniepoint is entering a fierce competitive space, and it is not clear how much profit to capture. Although Eniolorunda believes that the inevitable merger future, profitable fintech bets, its infrastructure, compliance knowledge and deep cultural understanding will make it sufficiently important.
“When we started to build Moniepoint and think about agency banking, it felt like we were late. But the market grew, look at where we are now,” Eniolorunda said, reflecting the late arrival of Moniepoint to enter agency banking in 2019. The same thing can happen with remittances. Yes, there are many players, but there are many customers who can get more customers or offer other services or provide other services. ”
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