Colombian fintech Minka, supported by Tiger Global, has expanded into Africa, launching operations in East African markets including Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Ethiopia. The company, which builds payment networks to facilitate money transfers between banks and financial institutions, plans further expansion into Mozambique, Zambia, and Malawi in Southern Africa.
Minka’s move into Africa follows a trend of Latin American fintechs entering the continent’s burgeoning digital payments space. EBANX launched in 11 African countries in 2022, and Uruguay’s dLocal entered West Africa and Kenya in 2020. Both regions share similar financial challenges, such as high levels of exclusion—over 350 million African adults lack access to formal financial institutions and rely on cash transactions.
Minka’s growth lead, Alexander Perko, highlighted the synergies between Latin America and East Africa, noting that both regions struggle with low financial inclusion and dependence on cash-driven informal economies. Eight of the bottom ten markets for financial inclusion globally are in Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa.
Minka’s business model simplifies financial transactions by creating a common language that enables interoperability among payment systems. This eliminates the complexities of reconciling between networks, addressing a global issue where only 3% of the world’s 2,000 payment networks are interoperable.
The expansion also allows Minka to leverage its expertise from Latin America, where financial inclusion remains a challenge despite significant progress in digital payments. While 58% of Latin Americans have access to credit cards, far fewer have access to loans or investment products, and rural populations face even greater exclusion.
For African markets, Minka aims to bridge the gap for consumers and businesses that rely heavily on mobile money or cash, enabling them to access global merchants who don’t traditionally support local payment methods. The fintech brings established relationships with global merchants, which it hopes will ease its entry into Africa.
Latin America’s fintech sector has advanced through collaborative regulations and innovation, with over 1,500 registered startups. Minka and other Latin American entrants aim to replicate this success in Africa, offering solutions to address financial exclusion and drive adoption of digital payments across the continent.
