Julaya has just raised $5 million in funding, only a little over a year after its previous round of fundraising brought it $2 million. During this interview, Olivier Houben, who works as the Country Manager for the firm in Senegal, addresses a variety of topics, including fintech activities, the growth of the industry as a whole, as well as why the startup preferred Benin, Togo, and Burkina Faso for its recent expansion.
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After raising $2 million the previous year, your fintech has now received $5 million in investors. What specifically does Julaya offer SMEs in West Africa?
Julaya is a financial technology company that works in Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire to make it easier for small and medium businesses, major firms, and institutions to process payments. Our company provides a web-based platform that enables mass transfers to any and all Mobile Money wallets as well as bank transfers. This year, in collaboration with our colleagues at Mansa Bank and Mastercard, we introduced prepaid bank cards, both real and virtual, that are designed to be used for business expenses. We have only just begun offering a digital cash collection solution that assists businesses, particularly those in the agriculture and consumer products industries, in carrying out collections in a quick and risk-free manner. To put this into more concrete terms, our solutions now make it possible for more than 500 businesses to pay their employees, suppliers, and unbanked partners; to secure their payments and receipts; to have traceability of their transactions; to facilitate their professional expenses (travel, line, etc.); and, most importantly, to improve their operational efficiency. And very soon, in conjunction with our sponsor bank, we will be able to provide lending options.
West Africa and the continent are seeing a rise in start-ups and fintech. Do you think this is a permanent trend, and how has Julaya positioned itself to participate?
The worldwide market for financial technology is expanding at a rapid rate and is anticipated to reach about 700 billion dollars by the year 2030. According to a research that was published by McKinsey in August 2022, the financial technology sector in Africa may reach $30 billion by the year 2025, and the West African zone is the one expected to have the greatest rate of expansion. Due to various underlying trends in West Africa, such as the growth in the number of smartphones, the acceptance of mobile money and hence access to financial services, the extension of network coverage, and the youthful and increasing urban population, fintechs offer exciting development potential. These preexisting trends toward digitization have been sped further as a result of the Covid-19 epidemic. One of the many reasons why financial technology is experiencing such significant traction is the fact that it affects many different kinds of businesses. The solutions provided by Julaya address the challenges of economic growth in the West African region. These challenges include enabling businesses to access solutions for efficient and secure transaction management, reducing reliance on cash, and expanding access to financial services for populations that are not supported by profit. banked. We couldn’t be happier to be a part of this revolution, which is paving the way for a better deal for both enterprises and populations.
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You’ve opted to expand Julaya to Benin, Togo, and Burkina Faso with the cash raised. What’s the rationale?
In point of fact, we want to implement Julaya’s services in Benin, Togo, and Burkina Faso in 2021, all of which are anticipated to see economic expansion of 6.6%, 5.3%, and 8.5%, respectively. These are obvious countries in the next steps of Julaya’s expansion as members of the UEMOA zone with several structural characteristics similar to those of the countries in which we are already established (Côte d’Ivoire since the end of 2018 and Senegal since the end of 2021): economic and monetary integration (a common currency, a common Central Bank, etc.), as well as legal integration (OHADA). In addition, we are able to deploy there with partners and technology that we are familiar with, and although the practises of businesses are unique, there are many parallels between them.
In the long run, say five or ten years, what do you want to accomplish?
Our goal is to have a significant and long-lasting influence on the digitization efforts of businesses throughout the whole spectrum of financial products, ranging from payment to credit. Edouard Mendy, who was selected as the best goalkeeper in the world in 2021 by FIFA and African champion 2022 with the Senegalese team, is joining our company as an investor and sponsor of the brand in our markets. Because our company upholds and carries the values of team spirit, cooperation, combativeness, and resilience, we are thrilled to have Edouard Mendy on board. Our goal is to become more than just a digital partner for companies in West Africa; rather, we aim to contribute to the sustainable growth of the continent as a whole, particularly in the complex and crucial context of the energy transition. As a result, we have also established asset finance pilots in the field of electro-mobility (electric cars) for the benefit of our business clients, particularly in the field of logistics.
Julaya Benin Togo Burkina Julaya Benin Togo Burkina
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard. You can book a session and speak with him using the link: https://insightsbyexpert