Payaza Africa Secures Finalist Spot for Financial Inclusion Innovation at The Money Awards 2025

We are thrilled to announce that Payaza Africa Limited (“Payaza”) has been selected as a finalist in the Startup category (Financial Inclusion sub-category) of The Money Awards 2025, organized by Money20/20 USA. This recognition, under the entry titled “PAYAZA 2.0 – Powering Financial Inclusion Across Africa and Beyond”, underscores our ambition and execution as a fintech innovator committed to expanding access to financial services across underserved communities in Africa and beyond.

The Money Awards initiative, launched by Money20/20, is designed to honour companies and solutions that are shaping the future of money, bringing together payments, fintech, and financial services players worldwide. The Startup category, particularly the Financial Inclusion sub-category, recognises those organisations that are delivering innovative solutions enabling underserved or marginalised groups to gain greater access to banking, payments, savings, credit, or insurance services. (Money20/20)

Payaza’s finalist position is especially significant when viewed within this broader context:

• It places Payaza among a carefully selected group of global fintech startups: only 68 finalists representing 13 markets (including Nigeria) were announced for the inaugural 2025 edition. (Business Wire)
• The recognition validates our strategy and operational execution when it comes to rolling out inclusive payment and financial infrastructure across emerging markets, marking a major milestone in our 2024–2029 global growth plan.
• It provides a powerful platform for Payaza to elevate its profile on the global fintech stage, opening doors to new partnerships, investor interest, and collaborative opportunities beyond our home base of Nigeria.
• For the under-banked populations we serve, small businesses, micro-enterprises, and informal traders, the nomination signals that the fintech ecosystem is taking seriously the continent-wide mission of financial inclusion, and that Payaza is a credible contributor to that mission.

In short: this nomination is more than a trophy. It is a public endorsement of our approach, our reach, and our ability to execute in the high-stakes arena of financial inclusion.

“This milestone reinforces what we’ve always believed, that technology, when thoughtfully designed, can unlock prosperity for individuals and small businesses alike. Payaza represents the next phase of that mission: smarter, faster, borderless payments that connect people and possibilities, everywhere. - Seyi Ebenezer, CEO Payaza Africa.

As Payaza now looks ahead to the winners' announcement at Money20/20 USA later this year, our message to investors, partners, and ecosystem stakeholders is clear: join us in the next chapter of our journey. We invite:

• Investors seeking fintech growth stories anchored in real-world impact and emerging-market scale.
• Strategic partners, banks, telcos, payment networks, marketplaces—who share our belief that inclusive finance is a market frontier, not a charity.
• Developers and innovators interested in building on the Payaza platform, to embed payments, remittances, cross-border flows and value-added services in sectors such as e-commerce, gig work and micro-enterprises.
• Community advocates and NGOs recognise that widening financial access is foundational to job creation, entrepreneurship and sustainable economic advancement.

We believe that this nomination is the beginning, not the end. With the Payaza roadmap, we aim to scale across Africa and into new geographies, continually refine our tech stack, deepen our regulatory readiness and expand our impact on underserved populations. We welcome you to be part of that journey.

Payaza Africa Limited is a leading payments infrastructure and fintech company headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. Our vision is to enable inclusive access to financial services for micro-businesses, SMEs and individuals across Africa and beyond.

Founded to address persistent gaps in financial access:

• High transaction costs, 
• Fragmented infrastructure, 
• Limited cross-border flows

We thank our entire team, partners, clients and the broader fintech ecosystem for making this milestone possible, and we look forward to the next chapter of delivering inclusive, transformative financial services.