In a modest office on Adeola Odeku Street in Victoria Island, Lagos, a young fintech team tackled a riddle that global payment giants had largely sidestepped. How could anyone make money processing transactions worth just N60 or N100?
Touch and Pay Technologies (TAP) cracked that code. Today, the startup has evolved into one of Africa's most significant micro-transaction payment platforms, handling millions of low-value transfers that fuel public transport, government revenue collection and street-level commerce across Nigeria.
Entrepreneur and board member Ndubuisi Ekekwe recently reflected on TAP's trajectory, spotlighting it as a vital blueprint for African fintechs seeking to build on local conditions rather than transplanting foreign models. "I first met them in that modest office on Adeola Odeku Street.
They had a small piece of technology, but I was completely sold on the vision," he wrote on LinkedIn.
That vision came from founders Olamide Afolabi, Kabir Yabo and Michael Oluwole, who recognised that Africa required payment systems engineered for its own economy. They rejected technology borrowed from developed markets.
International payment networks excel at processing large transactions with slim margins. Yet Africa's informal economy runs on payments often below N200, making traditional payment channels uneconomical—transaction fees devour most of the value.
Rather than retrofitting global systems, TAP built its own payment protocol. It could handle tiny transactions at far lower costs while maintaining the reliability needed for millions of daily operations.
This choice became their decisive edge. The company's infrastructure now powers payment systems for governments, transport operators and merchants, including Lagos' popular Cowry Card and Ije Card, allowing commuters smooth digital transactions while boosting fare collection efficiency.
TAP's rise reflects a larger transformation rippling through Africa's tech scene. For years, startups chased replicas of European, Asian or North American successes.
Many drew investor cheques but stumbled because they overlooked Africa's distinct infrastructure constraints, cost structures and consumer patterns. TAP inverted this logic.
Rather than studying why global payment systems worked, the team examined why they failed in Nigeria's markets, buses, informal traders and public transit networks. "The lesson is timeless.
Learn from global innovations, but build for local realities. Great companies aren't created by copying the world; they're created by understanding local market frictions and engineering solutions that fit," Ekekwe said.
Tech industry watchers say this approach now defines the emerging generation of African technology firms. As governments demand stronger financial inclusion and digital adoption, demand is rising for infrastructure that processes millions of low-value transactions daily without inflating costs for merchants or users.
That opportunity remains largely untapped across the continent.
