UMBA, a digital bank designed by two Irishmen, is gaining ground in Africa

(Ecofin Agency) – UMBA It is a digital bank active in Africa, offering customers free bank accounts and financial services. Designed in 2018 by Ireland in Tiernan Kennedy and Barry O Mahoni, the company first expanded in Nigeria and is currently pursuing an expansion strategy to other African markets such as Kenya.

The entrepreneur explains that they set up the company to allow more people to benefit from banking services that are not always accessible in Africa. ” From the beginning, we built our platform to cater to multiple markets, currencies and payment infrastructure. This flexibility is a very important consideration because it is very difficult to upgrade systems later. Announces the Managing Director of Umba Irish Times.

In 2020, the Bank raised $ 2 million in new funding from new investors to expand the services it offers to its customers. Two years later, UMBA raised an additional $ 15 million. This resource has provided ways to expand its service offerings and operations while working with new countries such as Egypt and Ghana.

” Since its launch in Kenya in 2018, the platform has gained over 200,000 users and is experiencing a monthly growth of over 10%. “Platform usage is publicly accessible:” With your Umba app, you can open an online bank account and manage your regular banking services. If you are having difficulty applying or repaying your loan, you can contact the Umba team. He explains on the site Loanspot.

Umba has partnered with startups such as Okra and Keeper to overcome the difficulties of attracting and retaining customers, as well as the challenges of any digital bank, such as the entire process surrounding banking services. The first is a financial information platform that synchronizes the transaction history of Umba users with more easily accessible credit. Keeper, who specializes in IT development, enables optimization of key Umba products.

Many experts see digital banking as one of the opportunities to reduce financial exclusion in Africa, especially in rural areas where financial services are not available or difficult. The expansion of digital financial services on the continent started a few years ago and over the last two years we can see a rapid increase in the number and volume of transactions and their growth.

Cristina de Souza