Fatima Almeida, CEO and Founder of Angola-based BayQi, has a vision. Historically, online purchasing and payment systems have been problematic throughout Africa. Myriad issues are to blame, general access being the main obstacle; for example, in Angola there is a prohibitively high Visa interest rate.
To promote financial inclusion, BayQi combined ecommerce and fintech to create a “super app” that now connects the 12 million people of Angola with the rest of the world. Backed by a license from the National Bank of Angola, the system currently relies on the national currency (the Angolan Kwanza) and BayQi further envisions a one-payment system that will ultimately service all of Africa, in partnership with larger, known creditors such as Visa.
The platform is currently available in Portuguese, English, French, and Italian. Most African people speak one of these languages, says Almeida, but BayQi is positioned to expand its offering according to what the future demands.
Any African-based business struggles with access to resources, reports Almeida, but no matter: Africa can deliver what is needed and “we can create something for the world to use as well.”