Nigerian Fintech Startup Lemonade Finance Set To Introduce Its Payment Offerings Into The Ghanaian Market

Nigerian fintech startup, Lemonade Finance, is planning to expand to Ghana this year and has various new product offerings up its sleeve, including bills payments and, most notably, its Cards feature.

This feature will allow its users to create virtual Naira and Dollar cards to complete transactions on local and international websites. Customers will use their cards to pay for global services like Apple Music and its related services, Netflix, Spotify, Amazon, PayPal, and GooglePay.

Founded in 2020 by Ridwan Olalere and Rian Cochran, Lemonade Finance allows Africans abroad to send and receive money from their home countries in efficient, affordable and fast ways and claims to have thousands of users across North America and Europe. Its app allows users to hold their balances in the currencies that matter to them, easily converting one to the other.

As a participant in Y Combinator’s W21 batch last year, The company offers local and international transfers to Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Canada and the United Kingdom (UK) instantly without hidden fees, and makes international transfers at the actual market exchange rate.

Speaking on their competitive advantage, Ridwan Olalere states:

“Cross-border payments for Africans are plagued by three major issues – long transaction completion times, restrictions in terms of use, and steep fees. These issues mean that platforms for international transactions, especially peer-to-peer, are either unavailable to Africans or limited in their functionality. For instance, WorldRemit and TransferWise allow Nigerians to receive from other countries but prevent them from sending. PayPal does the opposite, allowing Nigerian users to send but blocking them from receiving money. When the international funds’ transfer option is available, wait time to transaction completion could be up to four days, like with Western Union. In addition to this delay, Africans often have to pay higher than the global average.”

“We are faster, cheaper, allow users to switch between currencies and enable them to send and receive money from their home countries.”