Nigerian open banking startup pivots to enterprise solutions with Flutterwave backing. M-Pesa brings blockchain to 60M users across 8 African countries. | Wednesday, January 14, 2026
Four stories define African fintech infrastructure maturation and Black business support expansion today.
In Nigeria, Mono—recently acquired by Flutterwave—announced plans to launch a treasury management platform in 2026, consolidating multiple bank balances in a single interface and leveraging data from 8 million linked Nigerian bank accounts.
In East Africa, M-Pesa partnered with Abu Dhabi’s ADI Foundation to integrate blockchain infrastructure (ADI Chain) into its platform serving 60+ million users across 8 countries, enabling faster settlements and stablecoin transactions while maintaining regulatory compliance.
Kenya’s Central Bank licensed 42 new digital credit providers, bringing the total to 195 approved lenders as part of a formalization push to curb predatory lending and protect consumers.
In the United States, New Jersey’s Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) partnered with Rowan University to support the African American Chamber of Commerce’s Transformation Center, the first main street-focused business incubator designed to close wealth disparity gaps, with $1.5 million in NJEDA funding for planning, coordination, technical assistance, and mentorship.
By offering M-Pesa users the ability to transact in stablecoins, the platform addresses a real problem: merchants and SMEs protect against local currency depreciation while maintaining mobile money convenience.
Open banking startup Mono announced plans in 2026 to launch a treasury management platform-as-a-service solution designed to consolidate and manage multiple bank balances in a single interface, leveraging its recent acquisition by Flutterwave and infrastructure that has already linked approximately 8 million bank accounts in Nigeria.
