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Over the past decade, Dubai-based Network International has become one of the dominant payment processors across the Middle East and Africa, thanks in part to a pair<\/a> of acquisitions<\/a>.<\/p>\n However, many large incumbents can fall prey to slower innovation, opening the door for smaller, faster-moving startups. The latest development is Enza<\/a>, a fintech founded in 2022 by Hany Fekry,<\/a> a former managing director at Network, along with another ex-Network executive Hamish Houston<\/a>.<\/p>\n The fintech, which has raised $6 million in seed funding, is building infrastructure for banks and fintechs, offering a range of local payment solutions, from cards to wallets to real-time payments.\u00a0<\/p>\n Before launching Enza, the founders managed global acceptance, processing, and consumer finance departments at Network International. While Network was building a robust payments network across the Middle East and Africa, focusing primarily on the acceptance side of things, they felt a massive gap in creating comprehensive solutions for banks and fintechs, especially in Africa.<\/p>\n When neither party could find an alignment with Network, they resigned to start Enza, which officially launched in January 2023.\u00a0 <\/p>\n \u201cOur divergence prompted us to take a step back and rethink how to address these underserved needs in the market,\u201d CEO Fekry told TechCrunch.\u00a0<\/p>\n The founders of Enza say they\u2019ve built the company using lessons from their time at Network International and its subsidiary, DPO Group. But unlike those firms, which focused largely on card acceptance and merchant acquiring, Enza is taking a broader approach, serving both sides of the transaction.<\/p>\n Enza\u2019s platform is designed for banks and fintechs on the issuing side, and SMEs and merchants on the acceptance side. The startup is initially targeting Egypt, Nigeria, and South Africa, three of the continent\u2019s largest financial markets.<\/p>\n Payments are often the first entry point into formal finance for the millions of underserved or unbanked small businesses across Africa. Enza wants to help these businesses accept in-person and online payments at little to no cost \u2014 a strategy it thinks will allow banks and fintechs to build long-term relationships.<\/p>\n Once those are in place, Enza\u2019s infrastructure enables cross-selling of lending, savings, insurance, and other financial services.<\/p>\n \u201cPayments are the gateway,\u201d says Andrew Key<\/a>, who joined Enza as an executive director last year. \u201cBut the value is in the data and the services you can layer on top.\u201d<\/p>\n That strategy also plays to the changing dynamics between banks and fintechs in Africa. For years, banks have ceded infrastructure and particularly SME market share to players like Flutterwave, Fawry, Paymob, and Moniepoint, now Nigeria\u2019s largest merchant acquirer. But banks still hold key advantages, namely broader service offerings and regulatory backing.<\/p>\n \u201cBanks have realized they gave up too much ground to fintechs,\u201d Houston said. \u201cWe want to give them the tech to compete and win it back.\u201d<\/p>\n Similarly, despite the rise of fintechs across Africa, banks remain the central, regulated players behind most payment aggregators. But many still lack clear visibility into what their aggregator partners or downstream merchants are doing.\u00a0<\/p>\n That\u2019s one of Enza\u2019s functionalities, the founders say: Giving banks more transparency and control over their payment ecosystems so they can stay compliant while scaling.<\/p>\n The Dubai-based startup also broadens the payment options available to banks. Enza integrates with local card schemes like Verve, AfriGo, and Meeza, alongside global networks like Visa and Mastercard.\u00a0<\/p>\n It also connects with real-time payment infrastructure, including Nigeria\u2019s NIBSS, South Africa\u2019s PayShap, and Egypt\u2019s InstaPay, as well as mobile money and telco wallets, while supporting QR codes, buy-now-pay-later (BNPL), and contactless payments features.<\/p>\nPayments acceptance into broader fintech scale<\/h2>\n
Leveraging founders\u2019 networks<\/h2>\n