How one family's financial struggles fueled Cauridor's fintech riseHow one family's financial struggles fueled Cauridor's fintech rise

In 2011, a University of Toronto engineering graduate tried to send money back home to his family in Guinea but learned it was too challenging for his family members to receive the cash.

"[To receive] money back then, they [had] to travel to an agent who received that money, so it was very, very, very complicated. That's what was happening in Guinea, for example, you [had] to sometimes travel for one hour to go pick up [money]," Oumar Rafiou Barry, co-founder and CEO of fintech firm Cauridor, told Connecting Africa.

After noticing the burden it placed on his family members and that the financial infrastructure in much of West Africa was in dire straits, at that time, he sprung into action, creating a three-pronged approach to the problem. 

He first launched BNB Cash Corp in 2011, a Canada-to-Africa remittance platform, with his co-founder, Chief Technology Officer Abdoulaye Bah. 

Barry said the first way he solved the distance issue was by building an extensive agent network, transforming everyday people into human automated teller machines (ATMs), so that beneficiaries would have access to money anywhere. 

This made Cauridor's agent network more convenient compared to newer fintech firms that have yet to cover ground in West Africa. 

Barry said that today in Guinea, Cauridor has more than 10,000 points where users can collect their money.

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Building a network from the ground up

Barry notes that most Africans don't have bank accounts and, as a result, they use their phone to make payments to merchants via mobile money services. 

According to the World Economic Forum's "Here's why Africa is the world leader in digital and mobile banking" 2023 report, only 48% of Africans use banking products, and more than half are unbanked and operating with cash. 

The World Bank Group findings suggest that sub-Saharan Africa is underbanked because of the lack of appropriate documentation and the sheer distance people need to travel to access banking services. Both act as barriers to financial inclusion, among other things.

This is a fact that Barry knows well, which is why he said his second component was integrating mobile money into the platform, a system where users store funds on their phones and use them for transactions. 

This innovation, he said, mirrored the convenience of Apple Pay but was tailored to an audience that largely lacked traditional bank accounts. 

Cauridor has built an extensive agent network, transforming everyday people into human ATMs. (Source: Image by diana.grytsku on Freepik)

The final piece of the puzzle was bridging the gap between mobile wallets, banks, payroll services providers and mobile network operators. 

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This challenge was addressed by creating Cauridor in 2022, an interoperability hub. 

Attracting investors, but on their own terms

In 2023, before investors started knocking on the founders' doors, Barry said his company made $10 million and brought in $4 million in profits.  

Because of its success, the company was initially reluctant to accept outside funding. 

"We were already profitable, so we didn't really want to take money from any investors," Barry said, referencing his resistance to an offer from Rally Cap at the time.

He said he eventually agreed to take a small check from Rally Cap but didn't disclose the amount of that check.

That same year, Barry said Oui Capital also reached out and "convinced" his firm to take an investment from them. 

All in all, Cauridor secured $3.5 million in funding that year from Oui Capital, Rally Cap, BKR and a few more angel investors, he said, a figure that was only recently disclosed. 

When asked how the company has been using the $3.5 million in funding and what Cauridor is prioritizing for growth, Barry said the group is expanding and has been setting up offices in West Africa and hiring more people.

Barry said he also hired more engineers and the fintech is expanding into a few countries in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), like Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire, which helps reinforce Cauridor's position as a leader in the regional fintech space. 

Countries in the WAEMU (also known by its French acronym, UEMOA), are Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo. These eight nations established a union by treaty and share a currency.

Competing with giants, inspiring future fintech entrepreneurs

In a market traditionally dominated by success stories like Flutterwave, the startup has managed to carve out a competitive edge.

"For example, [sending] $100 to, let's say, Rwanda, the beneficiary would get more money if they were to send it with us than sending it with MoneyGram," he noted. 

By offering lower fees and better exchange rates, Cauridor has positioned itself as a more attractive option for consumers.

Having built a successful business from scratch, the founders have some advice for aspiring fintech entrepreneurs daring to enter the space.

"I encourage them to go and do it. I'll probably not do it the way we did it; it would take you too long. Go and fundraise [it's] much faster," Barry said, referencing the bootstrapping he did before getting funding from investors.

What started as a bold vision has become a lifeline for countless families, proving that financial inclusion is not just a buzz-phrase but a transformative force that can reshape entire economies.