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Every year, millions of Nigerians lose time, money, and business opportunities navigating a fragmented financial system. Delayed international transfers, inflexible savings products, unregulated Bureau de Change markets, and manual payment processes force everyday Nigerians to patch together multiple platforms just to perform basic transactions.
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This inefficiency goes beyond inconvenience, it reflects a structural problem. Traditional banks in Nigeria rely heavily on third-party rails for international settlements, driving high transaction costs, processing delays, and limited accessibility for small businesses and everyday users. Meanwhile, most financial institutions still offer rigid, one-size-fits-all savings and contribution models, excluding millions of informal savers and micro-entrepreneurs who need flexibility, speed, and control.
Swiftpay was born to challenge that reality.
The vision behind Swiftpay
Conceived in late 2023, Swiftpay was developed through months of research, iteration, and user testing before its first major rollout. The idea wasn’t just to build another fintech app, but to create a financial super-platform that connects payments, savings, currency exchange,
cross-border transfers, and digital assets into one unified ecosystem. The startup was co-founded by four key players:
- Julius Osemudiamen Great – Chief Executive Officer
- Micheal Adenuga – Chief Operating Officer
- Unom Jeremiah – Co-founder
- Joseph Allan – Chief Marketing Officer
From the outset, the founders shared a clear philosophy: reduce friction across every layer of money movement while maintaining a pricing structure that remains accessible to everyday Africans.
Our focus was not just to compete, but to correct what was broken, Most systems were designed around institutions. We decided to design Swiftpay around people.”Osemudiamen said.
Bootstrapped conviction over rushed capital
In an ecosystem obsessed with venture funding, Swiftpay took a contrarian path. During its early development phase, the founders were presented with investment offers , opportunities many startups would rush to accept. But the Swiftpay team declined.
According to Osemudiamen, those offers risked reshaping the company’s long-term direction.
At that stage, external money would have come at the cost of our vision. We chose to bootstrap, build our product properly, and enter the market with something undeniable,” he explained.
By self-funding their early stages, Swiftpay retained full control over its product roadmap, user experience, and pricing decisions , allowing them to prioritise value creation over short-term growth metrics.
From cross-border stress to seamless finance
For many Nigerians, cross-border payments remain a nightmare: slow, expensive, and unpredictable. Swiftpay approached this not as a feature, but as a structural problem to redesign.
The platform offers users the ability to:
- Send and receive money within and outside Africa
- Exchange foreign currencies through an integrated Bureau de Change system
- Convert and manage multiple currencies within one wallet
- Buy, receive, and redeem gift cards
- Trade and hold crypto assets
- Access opportunities to buy and invest in stocks
Unlike many platforms that rely purely on external processors, Swiftpay is building its infrastructure with local market realities in mind , reducing dependencies and cutting unnecessary cost layers that inflate transaction fees.
Scan-to-Pay and the rise of invisible transactions
One of Swiftpay’s most talked-about innovations is its Scan-to-Pay feature, a tool designed to eliminate the friction of manual transfers and account details.
Scan to pay
Users can simply grant Swiftpay access to their phone gallery, select an image of a barcode or QR code, scan it, and complete payments instantly.
For small businesses, merchants, and everyday users, this means:
- No more copying and pasting account numbers
- No more manual errors
- Faster in-store and remote payments
- Easier customer checkout experience
According to internal platform data, Scan-to-Pay has quickly become one of Swiftpay’s most used features, especially among young business owners and digital sellers.
A lot of users tell us it feels like magic. You scan, pay and move on,” said Micheal Adenuga, COO.
Redefining savings for the informal economy
Beyond payments, Swiftpay is also entering Nigeria’s complex savings culture.
Traditional banks offer savings products that are often rigid, limited, and disconnected from how Nigerians actually live and earn. Swiftpay introduces:
- Ajo savings system for rotational contributions
- Group contributions and collections
- Flexible savings plans tailored for individuals and communities
- Digital contribution tracking and automation
This approach speaks directly to Nigeria’s informal economy, where cooperative savings, daily contributions, and group funding are part of everyday life.
Rather than replacing these systems, Swiftpay is digitising and scaling them.
Multiple transfers, one command
Another core feature is multiple transfers , allowing users to send money to several people at once from a single action. This is designed for:
- Business owners paying staff
- Families sending funds to multiple relatives
- Community and group leaders distributing contributions
What previously required multiple apps, repeated processes, and wasted time is now executed in one streamlined workflow.
A platform Nigerians are already embracing
Early adoption signals suggest Swiftpay is tapping into a deep, under-served need. Users are signing up rapidly, driven not just by marketing but by real-world utility.
From traders sending payments abroad, to students handling digital currencies, to marketers using Scan-to-Pay for faster checkout , Swiftpay’s value proposition is spreading organically across user segments.
Building Africa’s next financial layer
Swiftpay’s ambition goes beyond Nigeria. Its long-term roadmap targets becoming a continental financial operating system, connecting African users to seamless cross-border trade, financial inclusion, and digital asset participation.
The founders see Swiftpay not just as an app, but as a layer of infrastructure for modern African commerce.
And if early traction, product depth, and vision alignment are anything to go by, Swiftpay is not just joining Nigeria’s fintech conversation , it’s repositioning it.
