By Ajong Mbapndah L *
Africa’s digital finance sector is entering a decisive phase of scale, consolidation, and global integration, with industry leaders pointing to a fast-accelerating ecosystem powered by mobile money dominance, surging fintech investment, and early implementation of cross-border trade infrastructure under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
In an interview with PAV, Zekarias Amsalu—Founder and Managing Director of Ibex Frontier LLC and Co-Founder of the Africa Fintech Summit—describes the continent as the world’s most significant emerging financial technology frontier, arguing that Africa has moved beyond experimentation into what he calls a “structural digital finance boom.”
Named among the Global Top 100 Most Influential Persons of African Descent under 40 in Business & Entrepreneurship, Amsalu says Africa’s fintech ecosystem is now defined less by potential and more by measurable economic scale. He estimates that digital financial systems across the continent processed approximately $1.4 trillion in transaction value in 2025, underscoring the rapid expansion of mobile-first payments, embedded finance platforms, and digital lending systems across both formal and informal economies.
Looking ahead, he projects that Africa’s fintech industry could reach $65 billion in annual revenue by 2030, driven by financial inclusion, SME digitization, cross-border trade infrastructure, and the rising convergence of mobile money, fiat rails, and digital asset systems.
“The African fintech narrative has fundamentally changed,” Amsalu said. “What was once described as potential is now an operating reality—and increasingly, a global export of innovation.”
Yet alongside this growth, he highlights persistent structural challenges, including fragmented regulation across 54 markets, limited licensing passporting, and uneven access to growth capital. These constraints, he notes, continue to slow full-scale regional integration despite policy momentum under AfCFTA’s digital trade framework.
Still, Amsalu argues that the direction of travel is clear: Africa’s financial systems are being rebuilt in real time, with fintech serving not only as a disruptive sector, but as foundational economic infrastructure for trade, payments, and financial inclusion across the continent.
From this vantage point, he outlines the key drivers, bottlenecks, and future inflection points shaping what he describes as Africa’s $65 billion digital finance era.
You’ve been at the forefront of Africa’s fintech evolution—how would you define the current state of the industry in 2026, and what is its estimated market value today?
Africa is the present and the future of fintech—a true greenfield, anchored by the largest trading bloc under AfCFTA, with a 1.4 billion population commanding roughly $3.4 trillion in GDP and a median age of 19 that is digitally native.
On a continent that birthed and perfected the use case of mobile money, Africa’s fintech industry is an enabler that unlocks digital leapfrogging, with approximately $1.4 trillion in transaction value in 2025.
The African fintech narrative has moved from “potential” a decade ago to innovation powering the globe right now. The next billion digital users—and fintech growth—will come from emerging markets, mainly in Africa, which has the largest unbanked and underserved population.
Africa’s fintech sector revenue is forecast to reach $65 billion by 2030, representing the highest growth multiple of any region at around 13x, according to BCG.
From your perspective, how has Africa’s fintech ecosystem evolved over the past decade, and what key inflection points have shaped its trajectory?
The African fintech narrative has moved from “potential” a decade ago to an innovation engine powering the globe today—and an investment opportunity that cannot be ignored.
Key inflection points include the ability of fintech to solve deeply local pain points, thereby opening massive market opportunities; successful startups and exits that proved the investability of African ventures; and the vast embedded fintech opportunity built on mobile money and last-mile solutions.
Conducive regulatory oversight has also played a role in fostering fintech innovation across the continent.
With a population exceeding one billion people, where do you see the greatest untapped opportunities within Africa’s fintech landscape?
The next billion digital users will come from emerging markets, mainly in Africa, which still has the largest unbanked and underserved population.
This presents untapped opportunities in embedded fintech services such as credit and lending, payment infrastructure, B2B working capital financing, tradetech and logistics that enable intra-African trade, interoperability between mobile money, fiat, and stablecoins, as well as remittance and digital retail investment platforms that can create wealth for ordinary citizens.
What structural and market factors are currently working in favor of fintech growth across the continent?
Africa is a mobile-first continent, and it has already developed innovative local solutions through mobile money. This provides a strong foundation upon which additional layers of innovation can be built to solve local problems.
The “regulation-follows-innovation” approach adopted by many regulators is also a major advantage, enabling fintech leapfrogging.
While fintech is disruptive in most markets, it is almost eruptive in Africa, given the absence of legacy systems. This clean-slate environment—combined with a digitally native, increasingly urban population familiar with mobile money—creates a powerful competitive advantage.
Conversely, what are the most pressing challenges that continue to hinder scale and sustainability?
While every challenge presents an opportunity for innovators, there are still significant hurdles. These include limited access to funding, regulation that does not always move at the speed of innovation, and the burden of licensing and registering across multiple African countries.
The lack of widespread license passporting remains a major constraint. However, the full implementation of AfCFTA’s digital trade protocol, along with bilateral fintech licensing agreements, is expected to ease this burden.
There are growing concerns around government regulation—do you believe stricter policies could stifle innovation, or are they necessary for long-term stability?
Fintech deals directly with people’s hard-earned money, often with custodial responsibility, so trust in the system is essential. This makes regulatory oversight necessary.
Africa has demonstrated that regulation can coexist with innovation. In the case of mobile money, regulation followed innovation, and we are now seeing a similar pattern with digital assets, where regulators are introducing frameworks after stablecoin use cases have been established.
That said, there are still gaps—particularly in licensing, money movement, and cross-border trade—where regulation has not yet caught up with the pace of innovation or the AfCFTA trade protocol. I believe this will change rapidly.
What should African governments and regulators be doing differently to create a more enabling environment for fintech innovation and investment?
Stronger trust and dialogue between regulators and industry players are essential. These conversations help build mutual understanding, something we actively facilitate through the Africa Fintech Summits.
Regulatory sandboxes are also important, allowing innovators to operate within consumer protection frameworks while enabling regulators to better understand new technologies and their societal benefits.
Governments should also listen more closely to both investors and fintech founders to identify the bottlenecks—particularly around capital—that hinder growth and scaling.
How do you see fintech contributing to the success of AfCFTA, particularly in enabling cross-border payments and financial inclusion?
AfCFTA has created the largest trading bloc in the world, with nearly 1.4 billion people. Yet trading across 54 borders and more than 45 currencies has historically made intra-African trade extremely difficult.
Fintech is solving these challenges step by step—from tradetech and logistics to interoperable settlement systems across currencies and markets.
Beyond policy and regulation, fintech—supported by the AfCFTA digital trade protocol—will be the single most important driver of cross-border trade in Africa.
In broader terms, what role does fintech play in accelerating Africa’s economic development and financial empowerment?
Fintech is an enabler. When value exchange systems are affordable, efficient, and user-centric, broader economic activity can flow more smoothly.
This allows SMEs and individual entrepreneurs to access markets that were previously out of reach, ultimately driving financial empowerment and economic development.
As Co-Founder of the Africa Fintech Summit, how has the platform evolved over the years, and what impact is it having on shaping the industry?
When we launched the Africa Fintech Summit in 2018, our conviction was that fintech would be a key enabler of Africa’s growth and that the next major fintech success stories would emerge from the continent.
We focused on socializing this potential and attracting global investor interest early. Today, that narrative has evolved from “next frontier” to “African fintechs powering the world.”
We now host biannual summits—one in Washington, D.C., during the World Bank Spring Meetings, and another in an African country—while supporting early-stage startups through micro-accelerator programs. So far, more than 25 of these startups have raised over $600 million in venture capital.
What comes next after the Summit—can you share insights on upcoming editions?
Our 16th edition will take place in Kigali, Rwanda, on November 18–19, 2026. We are working closely with the Rwandan government to showcase innovations such as fintech license passporting.
The Kigali edition will also feature our flagship awards ceremony and bring together startups, investors, and policymakers. Program details and updates will be shared on our platforms.
Looking ahead, what trends or breakthroughs should we be on the lookout for?
While countries like Nigeria have led fintech innovation so far, geography will matter less going forward.
With AfCFTA implementation and emerging passporting frameworks, fintech companies will increasingly operate across borders from inception. The next wave of innovators will not be defined by geography, but by imagination and execution. Expect more African fintechs going global from day one and operating at global scale.
*Culled from May Edition of PAV Magazine
