[Transcript] #72: Nomba (Kudi) - How the Nigerian FinTech is providing Point-of-Sale, agency banking and payment solutions to merchants across Africa

Transcript for podcast originally recorded in December 2023

😉 In December 2023, we explored the story of Nomba (formerly Kudi), the FinTech payments solutions provider. Nomba provides a comprehensive range of payment solutions, management tools, and banking services tailored for businesses across the continent.

Initially launched as a chatbot (I’m not kidding) for financial requests, Nomba has since evolved into an omnichannel payment platform, empowering over 300,000 businesses and processing billions of dollars in transactions annually. The company's focus on enhancing financial inclusion and simplifying payment processes has established it as a key player in the digital payments space. Rebranded to reflect its expanded offerings, Nomba continues to drive growth and innovation in the sector.

Companies discussed: Nomba (Kudi), MoniePoint (TeamApt), Yoco, Kuda Bank, Flutterwave, Paystack, Stripe, Safaricom, Brass Banking, TradeDepot, Sabi, Paystack, Flutterwave, MTN, Airtel, Bumpa, Vendease, Orda, OPay, OnePipe, Paga, FairMoney, Omnibiz, Interswitch & Kippa

Business concepts discussed: SME Agency Banking, Informal retail, banking, Open banking & Mobile Money, Merchants solutions, Points-of-Sale devices, SME Lending & hardware and software bundling

Olumide Ogunsanwo

• Personal: Website

• Afrobility Podcast: Stories and analyses of African technology companies (Website, Listen: Apple podcasts, Spotify & Google podcasts & Read: Substack Newsletter)

• Adamantium Fund: African B2B fund focused on education, health, finance, food and transportation (Website & memo)

• Firedom Book: Financial Independence stories of African Immigrants (Website, Substack Newsletter & Buy: Print, eBook or Audiobook)

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Transcript starts here

[00:00:00] Olumide Ogunsanwo: Welcome to Afrobility, a conversation about African business and technology. Today, we're going to talk about Nomba, formerly known as Kudi, the FinTech payment solution provider. We'll explore the story across the following areas. One, African and Nigerian SME context. Two, Nomba's early history. Three, its product monetization strategy. Four, its competitive position and potential exit options. Five, we'll end with our overall outlook. 

This episode was recorded on December 3rd, 2023. 

[00:00:29] Bankole Makanju: How are you doing, man? 

[00:00:33] Olumide Ogunsanwo: I'm alive. This episode, I don't know. I wasn't very enthused about preparing for it, to be honest.

At some point two weeks ago, I was going to email you, we should skip the whole company. But anyway, here we are. Kudi.ai. It's just a run of the mill POS company. There was nothing significantly special about the company, but maybe I'm too harsh. We'll see. 

[00:00:53] Bankole Makanju: You're very harsh. I can understand that emotion. I guess the thing that was interesting to me, they all seem to be like the others, serving the same customers, but in different ways. It's like a bank, but not a bank really. In the same way, I don't know, Brass is a business bank.