PayDunya ("Pay" as in payment in English and "Dunya" as in world in Arabic) was created in 2015 by Christian Palouki (Togo), Honoré Hounwanou (Ivory Coast), Aziz Yerima (Benin), and myself (Senegal). We launched this startup to meet all the payment needs of people without bank accounts. Our mission is to enable the digitization of businesses operating in Africa through multi-channel digital solutions: issuing and receiving payments on websites or mobile apps, as well as collecting and disbursing mass payments.
What services do you offer?
Beyond "basic" digital payment solutions, we have also developed services such as invoice sending, a mass collection service for insurance companies and microfinance institutions, and disbursement solutions (salary payments, reimbursements, etc.). We have also developed a solution for anyone who wants to sell on social media. On the continent, e-commerce is mainly conducted on social networks such as Instagram and Facebook. We have also developed a CRM system that allows users to carry out SMS campaigns to build customer loyalty or communication campaigns.
In which countries do you operate?
We are currently present in Senegal, Ivory Coast, and Benin. The Covid-19 crisis has slowed our expansion considerably, but Burkina Faso and Mali are our next targets by the end of the year.
PayDunya in figures?
With a network of 600 corporate clients, we record an average of 40,000 transactions per day, but this varies as we can record peaks of 65,000 transactions per day.
What has been the impact of the health crisis on your activities?
The health crisis has had a major impact on us. We have many customers in the hotel and tourism sector who have themselves suffered greatly from the situation.
In the first month, our turnover fell by two-thirds. After that first month, we saw a gradual recovery in activity, which enabled us to develop a new segment: the Social Shop service with sales on social media.
Many people are still reluctant to use digital payment methods, particularly because of the lack of online security. How do you overcome this problem?
To reassure users, we have chosen to focus on security with a program called PayDunyaSecure, which has been implemented across all our services. We have also opted for transparency, as we are a trusted third party. To this end, we provide users with an after-sales service to respond to any complaints. Finally, we are in the process of obtaining PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) certification, which should be completed in November 2020.
You created PayDunya in 2015, and now we are in 2020. What is your assessment of the development of digital payment solutions on the continent today?
Despite the development of digital payment solutions, I still see many obstacles. The first obstacle is regulation, as there is currently no specific law governing Fintech in the WAEMU zone. As a young startup, this can be seen as an opportunity, but approvals also mean that customers trust us. It is these approvals that enable us to protect our business today.
The second obstacle is training. Until very recently, there was no real fintech training available. This made recruitment a real headache.
Finally, I think there is a major obstacle that is common to all startups based in Africa. In terms of investment and support, there is still a lot to be done! When you are a young startup, you need a lot of money to grow, but investors do not trust us enough to give it to us. The French-speaking ecosystem in West Africa is still cautious in terms of investment.
What are your medium- and long-term ambitions?
Apart from our geographical expansion, our real ambition is to boost the digitalization of businesses in Africa. We want to be present across the entire continent and enable the inclusion of businesses/individuals who are normally excluded from the traditional banking system, whether they are formal or informal. If we want Africa to move forward, we have to stand up and participate in change.