Over the past decade, Dubai-based Network International has become one of the payment processors for payment processors in the Middle East and Africa thanks to a pair of acquisitions.
However, many large incumbents can fall prey to slower innovation, opening the door for smaller, faster startups. The latest development is Enza, a fintech founded in 2022 by Hany Fekry, former managing director of Network.
Fintech, which raised $6 million in seed funds, is building bank and fintech infrastructure, from cards to wallets to real-time payments.
Before launching Enza, the founder managed Network International’s global acceptance, processing and consumer finance divisions. The network had built robust payment networks in the Middle East and Africa, focusing primarily on the host side of things, but we felt a big gap in creating comprehensive solutions for banks and fintech, especially in Africa.
When neither party was able to find consistency with the network, they resigned to launch the Enza, which they officially launched in January 2023.
“Our differences have inspired us to take a step back and rethink how we can address these unserved needs in the market,” CEO Fekhly told TechCrunch.
The founder of Enza says he used lessons from his days at Network International and its subsidiary, DPO Group, to build the company. However, unlike companies that focus primarily on card acceptance and merchant acquisitions, Enza has taken a broader approach, which serves both sides of the transaction.
Enza’s platform is designed for issuing banks and fintechs, with small businesses and merchants on the host side. The startup initially targets three of the continent’s largest financial markets: Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa.
Accepting payments for a wider range of fintech scales
Payments are often the first entry point into the formal finances of millions of underserved or unbanked small businesses across Africa. Enza wants to help these companies accept in-person and online payments without any direct costs. We believe this will enable banks and fintechs to build long-term relationships.
Once they’re in place, Enza’s infrastructure will allow for cross-selling loans, savings, insurance and other financial services.
“Payment is the gateway,” says Andrewkey, who joined Enza last year as executive director. “But the values reside in the data and in the services that can be superimposed on top.”
That strategy will also be revived in the changing dynamics between African banks and fintech. For years, banks have transferred infrastructure, particularly SME market share, to players such as Flutterwave, Fawry, Paymob, and Moniepoint. However, banks still receive important benefits: broader services delivery and regulatory support.
“The banks realized they gave up too much ground on FinTech,” Houston said. “We want to give them the skills to compete and win.”
Similarly, despite the rise of fintech across Africa, banks remain the central and regulated player behind most payment aggregators. However, many still lack clear visibility into what aggregator partners and downstream merchants are doing.
It is one of the features of Enza, the founder says. You can keep your bank more transparent and control your payment ecosystem obedient while scaling.
The Dubai-based startup will also expand the payment options available to banks. Enza integrates with local card schemes such as Verve, Afrigo, and Meeza along with global networks such as Visa and MasterCard.
It also connects to real-time payment infrastructure, including Nigerian Penguis, South African PaySap, Egyptian Instapay, mobile money and telephone company wallets, supporting QR codes, Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL), and contactless pay features.
Utilize the founder’s network
Enza utilizes the founders’ decades of experience and deep relationships to quickly secure contracts with several banks. For example, Fekry previously served as Chief Commercial Officer at Emerging Markets Payments (EMP). It was acquired by Network International and later became Managing Director.
Throughout their careers, the team has worked with nearly 200 banks. But this time, they’re looking for quality rather than quantity. “We’re not trying to replicate that scale,” Houston said. “We target 30-40 high quality banking relationships.”
Although the company only launched its operation last year, the Dubai-based Fintech has already secured more than 10 million contract transactions per month through live bank partnerships in six African markets in Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt, Uganda and South Africa.
Enza charges the bank for each transaction (“click”) based. These volumes are growing 35-40% of the month, and are expected to double over the next two years.
The company bootstrapped early, and founders provided their own funds. When they decided to raise an outside capital, the founders said they were not shopping for the deal widely.
Instead, Algebra Ventures and Quona Capital led the $6 million seed round. “The ENZA leadership team has an impressive track record of starting, growing and escapeing fintech businesses across the continent,” says Tarek Assaad, managing partner at Algebra Ventures, about why his company supported the two-year-old Fintech.
The new capital will be directed towards expanding the team and deploying new products for bank customers across Africa.
“We set up Enza to solve real infrastructure issues across Africa,” Fekhly said. “We spent our careers as people in Europe and the US, allowing families and communities to access financial products at any time they wish.”
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