Insights · Perspective · for anchors, financiers
B2B fintech: why Africa’s next big opportunity is not another consumer app
The businesses that move goods through supply chains are still largely unserved. That is an infrastructure problem, and it needs infrastructure.
Kefa Nyakundi, Chief Executive Officer, Mtaji Technologies
First published 9 March 2026; edited for this site 28 October 2026. 2 min read.
In brief
- The businesses that move goods need larger amounts, longer tenors and deals with three or more parties.
- Mtaji never lends: the credit decision and the balance sheet stay with the financier.
- Finance belongs at the order and the invoice, with the cost and the obligation stated before anyone accepts.
Most of the fintech pitches I see promise to change consumer finance: lending apps, wallets, payments. They matter. But I believe the most consequential opportunity lies elsewhere, in the layer that connects businesses to capital.
The businesses consumer finance does not reach
The manufacturers, suppliers, distributors and traders that move goods every day need something consumer platforms were never designed for: larger amounts, longer tenors, real documentation and transactions with three or more parties in them. They remain largely unserved.
Infrastructure, not a balance sheet
Mtaji made a deliberate choice early: we never lend. Financiers do. We connect anchors, the suppliers and distributors they trade with, and the banks and lenders that fund them, on one platform. The credit decision and the balance sheet stay with the financier.
That choice has consequences. Risk sits with the institutions built to carry it. The platform grows as more anchors, financiers, suppliers and distributors join. And every completed transaction adds to a trading record that makes the next decision better informed.
Finance where the trade happens
Embedded finance brings financial services into the place where the need arises. In business-to-business trade, that place is the order and the invoice. When an anchor approves a supplier’s invoice, early payment can be offered right there, with the amount, every deduction and the cost shown before the supplier accepts. When a distributor places a stock order, financing can be requested against it, with the repayment date and the obligation stated plainly.
No branch visit and no separate application. Just a clear offer at the point of trade, and a clear statement of who owes the money.
What success looks like
The African fintechs that define the next decade will build infrastructure rather than single products, serve businesses as well as consumers, and work with financial institutions rather than against them. We measure our progress by the depth of the network: anchors connected, supply and distribution chains running on the platform, and financiers of every size able to take part.
The future of African fintech is not another consumer lending app. It is the infrastructure that connects businesses to the capital they need to grow.