How a Tanzanian startup is moving over $1 billion to Africa and Asia

Oftentimes, ideas are born to address challenges. What were the early challenges you faced, and what opportunity did you see in the market?

I began building NALA in 2017. It wasn’t a smooth ride, I built, failed, rebuilt, and failed again. In April 2018, we launched a USSD-based app to help users manage mobile money more efficiently. It didn’t do so well. But we hit number one on the Play Store in Tanzania, and then we received a cease and desist letter from the country’s largest telecom operator that wanted us to shut down, accusing us of stealing customer PINs. Around the same time, I was called in by the central bank to explain how our technology worked. It was a deeply frustrating moment, especially as a young innovator, just 24 or 25 at the time, trying to solve real problems.

How did you manage to pivot from a mobile money management app to international remittances?

Pivoting was tough, no one likes failing. Shifting from domestic payments to cross-border remittances was a difficult decision, especially since I had never even lived in the UK before.

But then Covid-19 happened, and we began seeing a global shift: more people preferred digital channels for sending money. That’s when I started noticing two important trends. First, population growth in Africa and Asia was accelerating. Africa has around 1.2 billion people and is on track to reach 2.5 billion by 2050, with the world’s largest workforce.

Asia showed similar patterns.

Second, with population growth comes increased migration. Every year, about 1.6 million Indians and 1.1 million Africans leave their home countries in search of opportunities abroad. And when people migrate, money follows, so does trade. We realized there was a massive opportunity to build a financial infrastructure that serves this global movement of people and money.

Today, NALA is one of the largest remittance companies in Africa. We move over $1 billion in annual transfers to Africa and Asia. And more importantly, we’re contributing to the local economies in a meaningful way.

There have been conflicting reports regarding Nala’s decision not to base operations in Tanzania. What’s the real story?

People say what they want because it sells. It’s frustrating to see misinformation, especially when no one asks for my side. I did apply for a license in Tanzania—it just took longer than in other markets. When you raise foreign capital, investors expect results.

We got approval faster in Kenya with a letter of no objection from the Central Bank, so we launched there first. That’s just business. Kenya also has stronger tech talent. Today, we do have an office in Tanzania and local employees. But Nala doesn’t have a single headquarters. If we go by revenue, the U.S. would be our HQ. By headcount, it's the UK. By impact, it's Africa. We operate in 11 countries in Africa, 19 in Europe and North America, and four in Asia.

We have an office in Nairobi for several reasons. One is that the UK is where we started, and the first country that gave us permission to send money to was Kenya. While I was waiting for approval from Tanzania’s central bank, we received our license in Kenya, so that’s where we had to build our support base, as the number of customers was growing rapidly.

It took about a year and a half to get regulatory approval in Tanzania, but only two to three months in Kenya. As a tech company, time is your enemy, and speed wins.

Another reason we built a customer support base in Kenya is language. In Tanzania, English proficiency isn’t as widespread as it is in Kenya, so hiring staff with the required level of English would have been much more expensive. My decision was based on market dynamics, customer growth, and language efficiency.

Some government representatives have claimed to be in talks with you to bring Nala home. What’s your response?

A lot of them are lying. I hear claims being made in Parliament by people I’ve never even met. If someone really wants to solve problems, they can just call me. Let’s solve it together.

You entered a remittance space dominated by companies such as Western Union and MoneyGram. What gave you the confidence to take them on?

I was told not to do this business many times. I’ve got emails and WhatsApp messages warning me I’d fail. But I had a team that believed in the vision. We decided to try. If it worked, great. If it didn’t, at least we tried. Too many people just talk and never launch. Truth is, we could still fail. I tell my team all the time: we’re still a small company with a long way to go.

What gave you the conviction that this could work?

I pray. But full conviction is impossible, you can always be wrong. Indecisiveness, however, is too expensive. I ask God for wisdom, strength, and understanding.

Then we give it our best. As long as you know you tried your best, you're already closer to success.

Nala is known for blending local market expertise with global experience. What does that look like practically?

Talent and opportunities are everywhere. What gets interesting is when you bring together someone who’s worked in mobile money in East Africa, someone from digital banking in London, and someone from Singapore. When you put them in the same room, something magical happens. It stimulates creativity and problem-solving in a way that’s really customer-focused. That’s what excites me about how we’re building Nala.

Let’s talk about the talent gap in tech and financial services across Africa. How much of a challenge is this for your business, and is the situation improving?

I don’t think we take software engineering or computer science seriously enough in Tanzania. If I were in the Ministry of Education, I’d make it mandatory in the school syllabus from an early age. Not everyone will love it, and that’s okay, but we need to stimulate minds early on. Also, we need to create policies that bring talent into Tanzania. Look at the UK’s Tech Nation visa or what Dubai is doing with digital nomad visas. They bring in smart people who raise the average quality of local talent. Tanzania needs to move in that direction if we want to become competitive in tech.

Africa continues to lose tech talent to Western markets that offer higher pay. How do you respond to that dynamic?

I think more people should leave Africa for better opportunities abroad. We don’t have enough local jobs. Take Kenya, for example. Its biggest export is tea, around $1.2 billion in 2023. But Kenyan diaspora sent back $4 billion in remittances in the same year. So is talent Kenya’s greatest export? Possibly. We should view migration as an opportunity, not a loss.

Doesn’t this migration risk widening the local talent gap even further?

Not necessarily. You can solve it in other ways. Bring in global talent with digital nomad visas. Offer tax incentives. These people will spend locally and raise the level of discussion and skill-sharing. If they live in Tanzania, they’ll go to local hackathons, tech meetups, and share knowledge. That’s how ecosystems grow.

What is your view on Tanzania's updated foreign policy and the introduction of special status for the diaspora?

I know it’s a sensitive topic, but I believe Tanzania should enable dual citizenship. I’ve seen the impact of this across the markets we work in, Uganda has dual citizenship, so does Kenya. It enables more trade and investment back home. Special status is a step forward, but the real question is: how do we get Tanzanians abroad to build more businesses at home?

From January to June this year, African startups raised around $1 billion in VC funding, but Tanzania didn’t feature prominently. Why are we missing from that narrative, and what needs to change?

There are several systemic issues. Do we have scaled tech companies? Do our policies support founders? Do we have an ecosystem that helps startups grow? Most people blame regulation, but it’s more than that. One big issue is language, English. Most software is in English, but we teach it too late in our public schools.

Compare that to Kenya, where English is introduced much earlier. Language builds trust. If a Tanzanian founder struggles to express themselves during a pitch, it affects investor confidence. That needs to be addressed at a national level

There’s been concern about startup founders losing equity with every round of funding. What’s your take?

Raising debt is tough, and people have lost a lot of money trying. At NALA, all the fundraising we’ve done so far has been equity-based, which means my shareholding has reduced with each round. Today, I’m no longer the majority shareholder. That said, we’re considering our first debt round this year.

Are you worried about losing control of the company?

There’s always a risk, not just in Africa, but globally, and not just in tech, but in every kind of business. It’s tough. I’ve seen friends who spent 10 to 15 years building companies and ended up with almost nothing. That’s a reality we face.

The key is alignment, with your board, with your team. Everyone must be on the same page

How difficult is it for startups in Africa to raise capital?

It’s very difficult. Raising money isn’t the reward. When we raised $40 million last year, one of my board members told me, “Benji, the chef doesn’t celebrate getting ingredients. What matters is what you cook.”

Raising capital in Africa is tough. Many investors associate the continent with instability, war, and disease. You have to constantly work to change that perception and build trust. When you take investor money, it’s not charity, it comes with pressure and expectations. Every boss has a boss, and I do too. Honestly, my hardest market in Asia was easier than my easiest market in Africa.

What about gender inequality in startup funding?

It’s a global problem. There are so many talented individuals who will never get funding. It’s an institutional problem that’s been building up over decades. Investment privilege is real. The gap is massive and won’t close overnight. But when more women succeed in tech, they inspire others and build momentum for change.

There’s a claim that African founders need a white person on their team to secure funding. What are your thoughts?

People should build businesses wherever they want, an African founder in Japan should have the same shot as anyone else. But we rarely have that same conversation when it comes to African founders in the West. That said, there’s definitely a privilege gap. Someone moving from New York to Nairobi can often raise money faster than someone who grew up in Nairobi. People invest in others who look and sound like them. That’s just the reality.

Fintech seems to dominate the African startup space. Do you think it’s oversaturated?

Fintech will continue to be the most funded space in Africa for the next 25 years. Most founders don’t start out intending to build fintechs, but the opportunities pull them in that direction. Even when we were building NALA, I kept spotting new fintech opportunities along the way. It’s not saturation, it’s where the infrastructure gap is.

You won an award for Best Disruptor at the Africa CEO Forum 2025. Tell us what such accolades mean to you.

It’s obviously nice that a large organization like the Africa CEO Forum would recognize us for the work we’ve been doing across the continent and different markets globally. But as soon as I got it, I thought, “Okay, back to work.” Our mission is far from complete. The recognition is a testament to the hard work of our team and what we’ve built so far, but in terms of our long-term goals, it’s just a small step.

Do awards like this validate the vision you had for Nala?

In some ways, yes, it shows we’re moving in the right direction. But it doesn’t change the fact that we’re still far from our targets. So while it's encouraging, it's not the finish line.

What’s your message to any startup founder who aspires to build the next Nala?

Fall in love with the problem and your customer. Ideas are worth zero—what matters is execution. And know that it’s a lonely journey. But the world is a museum of people’s passion projects. Some people dedicate their lives to building things that didn’t exist before.

Where do you see Nala in five years?

I want us to be a publicly listed company in New York City.