As Africa’s leading payments technology company, Flutterwave launched as an enterprise payments company, then took on small businesses along the way as the company continued to expand. Now, Flutterwave is doubling down on enterprise and remittances.
Companies can, for instance, accept payments in more than 30 currencies from anywhere in the world using debit and credit cards, point of sale capabilities, M-Pesa and other mobile money services in Africa, and other methods.
They can also create a free ecommerce website, generate invoices, and make single or bulk transfers to their bank accounts directly from the Flutterwave dashboard.
In March, the company’s founder and CEO, Olugbenga Agboola, said Flutterwave plans to increase its focus on servicing the enterprise segment for its key markets in 2024 — part of its effort to continue connecting global companies and African consumers.
“We will be available to help all sides earn value from the relationship,” Agboola said in a blog post shared on the company’s website. “This change is the outcome of the lessons from a seven-year journey and the need to do more with less.”
To prepare to facilitate its business-related capabilities’ growth, Flutterwave has been bolstering its talent resources.
The company hired its first-ever chief risk officer in late 2023[1] : Amaresh Mohan, who previously served as chief risk officer at GoTo Group, Indonesia’s largest digital ecosystem. In June 2024[2] , Flutterwave announced the company was looking to fill senior roles to support its risk, compliance, engineering, data, and other functions.
“We have been adding highly experienced talents for both managerial and nonmanagerial roles across different regions and industries,” Olugbenga Agboola said[3] earlier this year. “Doing this is important because enabling the expansion of multinational companies like Uber into and within African countries helps create alternative sources of income and knowledge transfer, which could have boundless and exponential growth effects on the continent in all sectors.”
With more than 500 million young people living in Africa with both a growing amount of digital literacy and disposable income, Agboola feels it’s essential for Flutterwave to continue supporting the economy by helping companies operate within the continent.
“We believe so much in the possibilities that we want to continue to make it easier for this to happen and for African giants like Air Peace to expand seamlessly across Africa,” he said[4] . “The work we continue to do in enabling these expansions comes from our in-depth understanding that Africa needs deeper interconnectivity with itself and the world to leapfrog. This integration will be complete when global companies view our continent as the place to do business and create value.”
Flutterwave Providing Remittance Capabilities
In August 2023[5] , Flutterwave introduced its flagship cross-border remittance Send App, which helps people in the U.K., U.S., Canada, Europe, and various African countries send money to people in other African countries.
In 2024, the company updated the app to feature better rates, faster functionality, and a new design — which Agboola says is centered on motion and beauty.
“Look at the cultures in Africa,” he wrote in an October 2023 blog post. “Are they minimalist or maximalist? Have you seen a Nigerian traditional wedding? How about a Zulu or Xhosa wedding? Have you seen a Ghanaian wedding? The colors, the poise, the pageantry? So, it made sense to me when the design team came with this direction[6] : Let’s build something that truly represents us, our cultures, and our enthusiasm.”
Flutterwave has also added the ability to send money from the U.S. and Canada and receive funds from Egypt and Senegal
In June of this year, in connection with the 2024 International Day of Family Remittances — held on June 16 to commemorate migrant and diaspora communities’ role in financially supporting their more than 800 million family members around the world — Flutterwave released insightful data from its Send App, which indicated family support is the top reason for remittances.
According to Flutterwave, since 2021, more than 70% of the funds that have been sent through the app have been directed toward assisting family members with expenses. Travel costs, gifts, and educational fees were the other most frequent reasons for using the app.
The company also revealed that between December 2023, when it added “Bride Price” as a transfer description option, and May 2024, more than 7,000 of that type of transfers have occurred.
The use of the Bride Price option — which refers to a practice in some cultures that involves families giving gifts, called a bride price, to celebrate a marriage and show respect for each other’s traditions — grew by more than 86% between February and March 2024, suggesting a rise in wedding preparations across the continent, Flutterwave said.
Flutterwave also noted in the past 15 months, more than 50% of the Send App’s users have been millennials. Generation Z members comprised 22% of its user base during that time.
“This indicates a strong adoption of digital remittance services among younger generations as a reliable way to support families and loved ones back home,” Olugbenga Agboola says. “Older generations are also participating, with Gen X constituting[7] 20% of users.’’
The financial transfers, according to Flutterwave, can involve considerable sacrifices and generosity — and ultimately can have a significant effect on households, communities, and even entire nations.
“No matter where we find ourselves as Africans, we remain tied to our homes and always seek measures to support, appreciate, and stay connected with our loved ones,” Agboola said.
