Idris Marcial Monthe's CinetPay prides itself on being financially inclusive with its Mobile Money app.
CinetPay is a Fintech focused on mobile money transactions in Africa. According to Monthe, the company enables all e-sellers and traders to sell online or offline and even receive payments in 8 countries within the African continent.
The mobile platform's universal payment gateway lets all businesses in Europe and Africa sell their products and collect payments outside of their home countries as well.
Monthe was included in the CATAPULT: Inclusion Africa in 2020, which is organized by the LHoFT Foundation and targets Fintech startups in the African region that are bridging the gap between Africa and Europe in line with the sustainability goals of Luxembourg's finance center.
The Birth of CinetPay
The CEO told the LHoFT that they created a framework for internet domain name sales in 2009. Back then, they had to travel to obtain checks or cash in their dollars just to collect payments.
What is even more challenging is that the cost of their travel accounted for 60% of their profit, which only meant that the venture wasn't so financially attractive.
"We tried to use PayPal to collect payments, but very quickly we found that in Côte d'Ivoire and generally in French-speaking Africa, the number of people with bank accounts and having a credit card was very low," Monthe told the LHoFT.
But that instance sparked a market opportunity for Monthe since he found out that the African population widely used mobile money. They were able to digitalize money transactions and convert 80% of their sale through mobile money payments.
Ultimately, they sought to create a gateway for various businesses to make collecting payments easier and cost-efficient. Hence, CinetPay was born.
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What Financial Inclusion Means to Month
When asked what financial inclusion means to him, Monthe said it "means allowing everyone to have access to financial services, whatever their social situation and the tools at their disposal.
According to him, using cash to conduct transactions still dominates the African market, yet at the same time, the frequency of banking is relatively low, and the number of people owning a credit card is still modest.
He said that the reason behind this is that the majority of Africans have a mobile phone and are using Mobile Money.
The company's mission is to enable all Africans, whether or not they have smartphones or Internet access, to use local payment methods to complete online and offline purchases, despite the fact that 98 percent of transactions in Africa are carried out in cash, according to Monthe.
He also highly encouraged businesses to seek solutions to the problems of Africans through Mobile Money to increase financial inclusion in the continent.
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Written by Joaquin Victor Tacla
