In the dynamic world of fintech, a 26-year-old visionary is making waves and reshaping the financial landscape for young Africans.
Kiiru Muhoya, the co-founder and CEO of Fingo Africa, is the driving force behind a fully digital bank that aims to empower the youth, enabling them to create wealth and embark on a transformative financial journey.
Fingo, a portmanteau of “finance on the go,” encapsulates the essence of Kiir’s brainchild. This Nairobi-based digital bank is specifically tailored to cater to the financial needs of young Africans, providing them with the tools to create wealth, build businesses, and secure their financial future.
Its app, built like a social media app, incorporates intuitive social features such as Gifs, emojis and even fun AI images that make it fun for users.
"I got to understand how wealth is created, how different structures—political, economic, financial—impact a nation, and at the grassroots of that."
He teamed up with friends from high school and university to bootstrap the enterprise until they joined Y-combinator 2021. They have since raised over $4 million, partnered with Ecobank and built a team of developers from across the continent.
In just the last six months, the startup has seen remarkable success, amassing an impressive 100,000 customers in Kenya alone.
Kiiru’s goal is to address the youth’s challenges as they seek to interact with financial services and run businesses.
He says his philosophy, politics, and economics studies at the University of Warwick in the UK equipped him with a profound understanding of development.
“I got to understand how wealth is created, how different structures—political, economic, financial—impact a nation, and at the grassroots of that,” he says.
With 70 percent of the population in sub-Saharan Africa aged below 35 and the median age in Kenya being 19, he says there is a need to act fast to create conducive policies for the over one billion young Africans who will shape the continent by 2050.
“I ask myself, where are they going to find jobs and wealth creation opportunities?” he reflects.
For him, platforms such as Fingo Africa support these young individuals in building businesses, accumulating wealth, and contributing to the continent’s development.
Beyond his role as a fintech innovator, he unwinds by playing football on FIFA video games. He believes himself to be the best in the world at the virtual sport.
Lynet Igadwah