Building Borderless Banking: Transforming Global Financial Access for Individuals and Businesses with Ibrahim Toyeeb Ibitade

[00:00:00] You're listening to the Unlocking Africa podcast. Welcome to the Unlocking Africa podcast where we find amazing people. Who are doing amazing things to unlock Africa's economic potential. Today we have another special guest, Ibrahim Tuyib who is the co-founder and CEO of Leatherback

[00:01:14] and is committed to making cross-border trade easier for individuals and businesses across the globe. Welcome, welcome, welcome to the podcast Ibrahim, how are you? Fine, thank you. Thanks a lot for having me back to be here.

[00:01:29] It's a pleasure to have you on the podcast, looking forward to our conversation. You know that I like to start from the beginning so I was hoping you could tell us a bit more about Ibrahim.

[00:01:41] Well, I mean I always like to say I'm a payment enthusiast. I mean I've always been interested in payments right from time. Okay so my name is Ibrahim Tuyib, I'm the CEO and co-founder of Leatherback. Before then I've always been in payments all

[00:01:55] my life so far for now. I'm also a farmer, a very, very proud one at that. I'm also an investor in a number of businesses to a major interested party in many African businesses

[00:02:08] but primarily what drives me and what gives me a lot of juice is seeing businesses thrive and seeing the gospel of interconnectivity across African market really come to reality or be achieved. That's something that I've always been interested in hence why we also started Leatherback basically.

[00:02:28] So yeah, that's pretty much the long and short of the story. Fantastic, thank you for that. So as you mentioned your payments enthusiast, you've been in payments for most of your life. Also invested but you're driven by

[00:02:41] seeing businesses thrive which has led you to what you're doing now with Leatherback. So give us a bit more information regarding what inspired you specifically to start Leatherback? Okay so I mean it's always been there for a very long time. I mean I've always been exposed to

[00:02:58] the concept of making payments in and out of Africa for a while now. I grew up in the market so I grew up seeing my parents importing from China a lot and making payments and buying

[00:03:10] things from China and making payments to vendors in China regularly. I saw those difficulties first hand. I saw people lose money, I saw banks run out of cash and not being able to support businesses.

[00:03:21] I saw banks delay basic from EMS for periods of one month that would let such transactions run into the Chinese New Year which means that they won't get a consignment to leave China until after two months which eventually has an impact on pricing. I mean I've seen businesses

[00:03:38] collapse because of such things just because of the release in the market. I mean I've been exposed to those kind of things heavily. Also I've been able to go around Africa, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, South Africa, Zimbabwe. I mean I've seen different things from many African countries having

[00:03:54] mobile money which is pretty successful. So then till today typical African countries still don't have instant banking solutions for you to make payments from one bank to another and for you to arrive instantly. Even neighboring countries in Nigeria today don't have that

[00:04:08] as much so they are optimized for retail solutions but not for business solutions because if an average your mobile money account will not let you pay $50,000 or $100,000 and your interbank settlement system will allow you even to look out transfers of such volumes

[00:04:23] but it still takes about two days to get those kind of things done. So seeing those kind of things and seeing how they've been consistent bottlenecks on the growth potential of African businesses those are part of the things that led to starting Leatherback. Plus I've also

[00:04:38] seen many payments companies come and go and of course like I like saying sometimes many people pay lip service to the concept of really solving the genuine problems that African businesses are facing hence the reason why Leatherback started out. For individuals it's a very unique feeling

[00:04:54] if you live in the UK or in the US that you know that when you're traveling coincidentally I'm about to go on a trip right now just after this podcast and I don't need to look for Naira to convert

[00:05:04] to dollars or keep dollars in my account. I have my card with my bank and it works anywhere globally without any stress. I don't even have to be worried about will it work really not work.

[00:05:14] That feeling of knowing you can move as a global citizen everywhere anywhere is what Leatherback is preaching and why we set up Leatherback today for individuals to allow free flow of movement so you can have your own you can bank like a local anywhere you go across

[00:05:28] multiple countries. So removing that bottleneck that deters free flow of trade free flow of goods and human beings is one of the major reasons why we started Leatherback today. Thank you for sharing that Ibrahim so would you say in essence you're trying to democratise banking

[00:05:45] in Africa for businesses? Well yeah I mean democratise is the way to put it but while talking about democratisation it's also essential to know that we always rely on bank the existing local banks to offer our services. So what we've done in essence is we've made

[00:06:04] I mean the banks are huge proponents of the fact that banks and fintechs have to work together right there's a DNA that banks have that fintechs don't have and there's a major DNA that

[00:06:15] fintechs have that the banks can never develop it's not a bad thing right it just means that working together will let both parties enhance each other's capabilities so for us we go to different countries work with the local banks and the local interbank settlement systems

[00:06:31] to make sure those same services are available quicker faster and better for people in multiple countries including in that country too so we make it accessible we make it quicker we make it

[00:06:42] faster which is what typically banks will not will not be in it will not be inclined to do and for different reasons largely because there are also massive institutions that make our priorities so for us it's yes there's democratisation a bit but we also make sure

[00:06:58] that we rely on banks rely on compliance rely on regulation to lead everything we do to enhance and make those solutions easily accessible case in point if you're not in the UK and you are in

[00:07:10] say Senegal or Côte d'Ivoire Leatherback allows you the Aspera Banking Services where you don't even need to be in the UK to get access to your basic faster payment trails in the UK

[00:07:21] or to be able to collect payments for goods that you sell in the UK we give you that access without you needing to come into the UK to have to go through going to a Barclays or Lloyds

[00:07:32] which are most likely never give you access to such not because they don't want to not because they also don't they're not interested in pushing trade but largely because they themselves are interested they have these solutions and they're able to enable FinTechs to make it work so we

[00:07:48] enable those kind of collections and payment solutions for everyone globally without having to go and get those services. Leading on from what you've just mentioned it's quite obvious that the FinTech mobile money space it's quite vast and varied so where do you believe Leatherback

[00:08:05] sits specifically in that space? So with that space Leatherback we're an infrastructure service provider we are enablers right if you get a Leatherback today you will find that we have infrastructure and APIs available for you that allows you to do quite a number of things

[00:08:26] so you're in Nigeria today or you're in Ghana and you want to collect payments for the shoes you're selling to people in the UK or the bags you're selling to people in Canada we give you endpoints that allow you integrate to your website and collect those payments seamlessly.

[00:08:41] So we provide payment infrastructure to businesses to FinTechs alike and also to all necessary interested parties to enhance their business and make their business operate on a global scale while staying local that's what we do today so Leatherback sits comfortably in that

[00:09:02] infrastructure provision space and yes we do have businesses that come to us directly and we have mobile applications for individuals to sign up and use Leatherback but eventually where we sit mostly is we see ourselves as that enabler where your business you're an

[00:09:17] individual you're FinTech you're a finance firm you're a bank or you are any form of institution insurance institutions those are some of the people that we work with today and you are interested in working or taking your services globally Leatherback is positioned to

[00:09:32] offer you that service to allow you do that so yeah we are that infrastructure layer. Fantastic so as you mentioned Leatherback is a infrastructure builder so if you can give us a bit more information in terms of what is the underlying technology or infrastructure

[00:09:49] that powers Leatherback's global banking service? Well I would say we rely heavily on the banks to start with so our approach is very I would say it's simple but straightforward we go into every country assess every banking infrastructure payment infrastructure they have and then work

[00:10:09] with local banking solutions providers to make their solutions more accessible to a larger audience so the underlying technology is usually which gives a lot of our clients insurance too and online technology is usually the banks right the banks and the interbank

[00:10:27] settlement systems in the various countries so you can be rest assured that everywhere you go Leatherback is a bank grade or bank standard even most times are both bank standard security conscious bank which ensures that your funds are secure so in the UK we have something called

[00:10:44] safeguarding requirements where both your technology and your client funds and your client operations must sit and reside with a licensed commercial bank so we are just that layer that sits on something that the banks have already built which is still in line with

[00:10:59] the local regulations of the FCA or in Nigeria the CBN or any other local regulator in every country where we operate. In Canada we work with people stressed to get access to the interact

[00:11:10] system in Canada where we are also able to issue an interact and EFT numbers directly so the technology layer usually sits on the bank first then we enhance it and make it more accessible

[00:11:22] to people in addition to that we're PCI DSS and ISO certified so which enables us to also offer card services or we are recently also got appointed as a visa and mastercard principal

[00:11:36] acquiring an issuing member so at the end of the day you've seen most of what I've been mentioning are banks, visa, mastercard, regulators those are the foundational building blocks of everything that Leatherback rides on to deliver the fantastic products that we do to the market today.

[00:11:52] So the underlying technology is with the banks and this has allowed you to offer is it a multi-currency wallet which allows customers to hold multiple wallets in 13 plus currencies am I correct? Very correct and our multi-currency accounts

[00:12:10] well it's the anniversary wallets they are accounts so they are able to function as proper bank accounts like the same accounts you will find in every other local bank you are going to

[00:12:19] today. Our accounts in Canada, in the UK can do the same thing that every commercial bank account can do today so the idea is for you to bank like a local without even going into that country

[00:12:30] so staying in the UK and access Canadian banking services without you needing to get into Canada directly and everything with Canada so staying in Canada and access UK banking services to enhance your business growth without needing to get into the UK so yeah we offer those

[00:12:46] accounts in the UK, Canada, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal and yeah like you mentioned 13 countries where we offer all the services today. I mean that's a big achievement so what was the process of meeting the regulatory requirements

[00:13:05] to achieve this? Yeah it was pretty tedious very spur country I mean one we have a very elaborate and very big compliance team so setting up your compliance structure is very important to even hit the ground running that's the most important thing and for us when we started

[00:13:22] you know there was a time in the fintech life cycle in Africa where many fintechs in Africa were all about disruption disruption disruption but for Leatherback we didn't come into the market that way we came into the market with the interest to be regulated while also disrupting

[00:13:42] so we started with getting our UK FCA EMI license and then we got our CBN license in Nigeria, we got our license in Canada all these things require setting up the right compliance structures

[00:13:53] in place spending quite a lot of money time and resources building the right kind of technology going through multiple vetting processes I seem to remember one of our major partners that we were about to sign up with when we started I think we failed their testing process about

[00:14:11] three times before we got it the fifth time except very rigorous process right just for these partners alone so you can imagine having to go through such situations in multiple countries that have the most rigorous and big regulators you can find around and with the kind of risk

[00:14:27] elements also involved because the entire financial ecosystem is a risk-based business so with the kind of risk elements involved in it it was a pretty tedious thing which is still ongoing but yeah it's so far so good as you mentioned you came into the market with a slightly

[00:14:42] different approach you wanted to be fully regulated and compliant so outside of the regulatory challenges what would you say were some of the biggest challenges you faced in the early days in terms of when you first launched Leatherback? It was adoption basically I'll say it was

[00:15:04] adoption and if I mean adoption I mean basically adoption with partners you get regulated and we know how excited everyone is about Leatherback many African individuals Leatherback is one of the

[00:15:18] very few solutions that I've ever seen that you don't need to talk so much about it just show it once you show it everyone loves it but the partners that will make this work financial partners globally because regulators are one the banks are the other the financial partners

[00:15:33] who will let this thrive we're not very very friendly towards any business that is African-oriented African related if you want to sign up with any of them today once you tell them oh we also offer

[00:15:46] payment services to people in South Africa in Nigeria in Uganda in Tanzania the minute you mention those they tell you oh sorry it's out of our risk appetite because this country is at

[00:15:56] high risk I mean for me at some point I was I kept getting very baffled because Nigeria is a 200 million people country the largest black nation in the world South Africa is the biggest economy

[00:16:09] Africa and the economy potentials are there right let's even assume it's a risk high risk country no doubt but the point is there are 200 million people in this country that are looking to do business which means there's trade potential there's imports there's exports there's production

[00:16:25] there's this heavy travel right so because you target as high risk and you say for you it's out of your risk appetite you just don't want to do business there at all and we kept meeting

[00:16:34] those kind of stumbling blocks so for us it took a lot to be able to convince these partners show that we are that compliance oriented and foreign regulated partner that can serve as the gateway

[00:16:47] to allow people access Africa in and out either import export or do any form of business with Africa it took a whole lot to convince them I mean at some point we had to start telling

[00:16:57] our partners from the first call and first conversation when I joined we're Africans and we do some form of business with African countries even though we are also doing I mean our biggest

[00:17:07] business today is in the UK and Canada India is also growing really fast yes once you see that Nigeria or Africa is tied in a way to whatever you want to do then it becomes difficult so it

[00:17:18] took a long time but well we were able to get some reliable partners that have been with us for a while but that was one of the most challenging periods for us thank you for sharing that as you

[00:17:26] mentioned Nigeria is a key market so is Canada UK and India so what markets are you currently active in at the moment um so right now today our most active markets are the UK which is our

[00:17:44] biggest market today um then we have um Nigeria and we have um Canada India Sri Lanka Nepal Pakistan South Africa Ghana Egypt Ethiopia where we are also regulated and um yeah Kodilvar and Senegal those are markets that we're currently active today brilliant so what is it that determines

[00:18:06] which markets that you target to be active in trade really trade trade and movement of people and just to add we are also able to make payments to more countries which means

[00:18:16] we are able to make payments to China and where we make most of our payments do today from Canada to other countries and also able to make payments to the US so um so it's trade wherever there's

[00:18:27] trade and wherever there's movement of people we are able to do that I mean there's a lot of trade in the West African ecosystem hence the reason why if you notice I mentioned Nigeria Ghana Kodilvar Senegal those are amongst the biggest economies within West Africa and where trade

[00:18:41] and commerce thrives and where people also move lots of people move in and out of so we do a lot there and there's also the UK Canada US routes and also India Pakistan um you can imagine the

[00:18:53] migrant population between India Pakistan to the UK India Pakistan to Nigeria which also influences trade and commerce between these countries so anywhere there's trade there's commerce and movement of people that's what influences decisions to participate in specific markets

[00:19:08] so you mentioned that trade determines the markets that you're active in so was trade behind the recent partnership with Yes Bank in India? Oh yes absolutely um in fact most of the early adopters of the products are amongst the largest Indian owned businesses operating in Africa and

[00:19:27] in the UK um so those are like most of the early adopters of the products I mean we have one of the largest medical and pharmaceutical equipment provider in Africa owned by an Indian business

[00:19:36] who's one of the early adopters of the products so trade trade is one of the major reasons why we also explore that Yes Bank partnership and you can imagine Africa and the India does over 10

[00:19:47] billion I think 10 to 15 billion dollars worth of trade annually and I'm not to now mention India and the UK or India and Canada right so it's heavily trade and movement of people what do you believe is the significance of that partnership for users in their

[00:20:03] India Africa trade corridor? Um well it's also to enhance a lot of possibilities in that corridor if we focus on even Ghana a little bit we have generations and generations of Indians who own

[00:20:16] businesses and I mean three generations of Indians I mean I personally know one of the largest rubber manufacturing firms in Nigeria in West Africa actually is owned by family that has established four generations of Indians in Nigeria um so I mean you can imagine the impact

[00:20:36] of the possibilities of what can be done and before leatherback there was no solution at all in Africa where you could say I want to send money to India Direct and with just one or two

[00:20:46] clicks I will be able to send the funds directly to India there was nothing like that um so you can imagine what that will do for them and how they can allow more possibilities to be explored

[00:20:57] all right so um the potentials are endless if India Nigeria was doing 10 billion before now when payments but happens with just a couple of clicks and that can potentially double or quadruple conveniently because payment headache is one of the things that is no longer in there once you

[00:21:11] take payments away most times people are able to move freely like I use an example um the headache that in Nigerian faces after getting your tickets and visa booked to even figure

[00:21:21] what will I spend and how will I spend money in that country that headache is not to be underestimated it's a lot and taking that away takes a lot of pressure on shoulders and allows

[00:21:30] businesses and individuals thrive so as you mentioned before leatherback there is no solution to allow you to send money directly from Nigeria to India at a click of a button so is the India Africa or Asia Africa corridor an opportunity that is sometimes missed when we

[00:21:50] discuss financial transactions to and from Africa yeah 100 yes the opportunities are usually missed there and you know how opportunities are missed when um you see people putting a lot of effort to get things done themselves yes that's you know opportunities are missed um if people have

[00:22:09] to work harder and extensively to just get things and it's just it's just same thing with Nigeria too now I know of many people that want to set up specific types of businesses but because

[00:22:17] of liquidity bonnabili of liquidity in those countries um it just stops them from doing so so which means only the few people that are able to go the extra mile will actually get the install so yes there's opportunities being missed 100 percent so how big would you say that

[00:22:32] opportunity is uh well depends um India is also a fast growing economy right now I mean um the prime minister is doing really really great stuff and you have medical tourism you have um proper individual people tourism you have manufacturing many of the banks and financial

[00:22:50] institutions in Africa rely heavily on technological support from the Indian corridor we have many support services offering their services even from the UK right offering their massive support services out of India the India corridor to availability of quality labor is there just

[00:23:05] recently um the Nigerian government I I think I read an article where there was talk about the dangote refinery um having bringing over 3000 Indians to work for the refinery because I'm calling as professionals to work for the refinery right 3000 people being employed

[00:23:21] I mean it's hard to put a number to it it's just before the refinery set up no one would have thought that oh you need to bring 3000 people to work from India right and that's not

[00:23:30] stable mentioned agriculture I'm a farmer and I know the majority of the cocoa pits we use today we bring it in from India so 10 billion is just paltry in comparison to what really we

[00:23:38] should be doing at a long back corridor as we've been discussing the India Africa opportunity this has come about in terms of lever back through your partnership with yes bank which is a strategic partnership in essence how have you gone about leveraging strategic partnerships with

[00:23:56] say financial industries institutions stakeholders to advance the mission to promote early on we mentioned democratizing banking or is it advancing payment solutions yeah how have you gone about driving or advancing this mission through partnerships well I mean it's not been easy

[00:24:19] it's been pretty tough um but um we've been lucky to always find out we've got we've gained a lot lots of experience over the last couple of years and with that we've been lucky to also gain

[00:24:31] access to banking partners that now know the name leatherback they know we are synonymous to innovation and growth and they are now willing to work with us to deliver better solutions to their clients across Africa so it's a bit it's getting easier over the last couple of years

[00:24:48] but I think what also helps us is because we are regulated and we're able to lead with that and we are also heavily compliant across multiple verticals so that allows this banking

[00:25:02] partners that with them the willingness to want to work with us to get things done yeah so it's better now and what we do mostly is we rely on the banks to get work done and relying on the

[00:25:13] banks to get work done means um we are able to scale faster in local African countries and where the banks don't have the infrastructure we sit with them and we build the infrastructure

[00:25:22] actually have a very exciting project we're working on right now with one of the banks in Africa where they don't even have an interbank settlement system that is extremely functional so we sit with

[00:25:32] them build the infrastructure and from there we're able to even help the local general banking system scale better fantastic so what would you say are some of the key milestones or achievements leatherbackers reach through these strategic partnerships this year we are conveniently

[00:25:51] processing about 500 million dollars worth of transactions every month wow besides that I mean we serve quite a number of businesses and we work with most of the biggest people in the biggest

[00:26:00] sectors aviation health and we work with those kind of guys I'm I mean I'll say our major milestones we're getting our EMI license in the UK getting our MSV license in Canada and being able to

[00:26:12] offer entire EFT accounts locally in Canada that was really really major for us because we really needed to open up that African space it was really necessary so getting that partnership was key for us

[00:26:23] and we have a couple of additional things in the pipeline that we are hoping to get very soon and one of them is also getting our card program out there we've had lots of requests for the

[00:26:33] card project because it's easy to send and receive money but one of the things we now want to move on to do next is to allow people spend money that's what we're doing next now so

[00:26:42] our card project is just around the corner and you're going live version I guess with these exciting achievements and growth also comes additional responsibilities and requirements so do you have any future plans to enhance or develop the infrastructure to meet this increased demand

[00:27:02] and also to meet the evolving demands of say the global financial landscape we're always evolving always we're always evolving our business we have a very large technology team we have an amazing team at Leatherback massive number of people massively talented C level

[00:27:22] executive that hardly sleep until they get work done and then they do they do really solid work so we have all those people help us figure work out and every day by guaranteeing which is the

[00:27:34] largest department in Leatherback is always changing and working on things to get it done and get things across the line so every day we're looking at our solution building it making it

[00:27:45] stronger more reliable and looking to get it to a point where we are also matching with the continued regulatory upgrades that are required and even we making recommendations to ensure we reduce fraud to the bare minimum and reduce hacking possibilities and also secure client

[00:28:04] funds ultimately so we always come up with regular solutions and regular suggestions and how to protect clients funds better and save god funds better so yeah there's always that ongoing it's a continuous effort for us that's great to hear you touching the key point there which is

[00:28:20] that you're always evolving your solution so if we look at the services I know you build products or services that give customers what they need in order to offer their goods and services in different countries which is heavily focused in terms of what you mentioned earlier trade

[00:28:40] or trade demand kind of determines where you're heavily active currently you don't offer any trade finance type of services is this a space that you might enter into in the near future oh yeah definitely we're offering our services to businesses and it's only expected that um

[00:29:00] particularly because of the type of businesses we offer our services to these are the kind of services they are interested in because enhancing business growth is not only in helping them make payments it's also in helping them um in providing them with financial solutions to help

[00:29:15] them grow which is why we are well positioned with the banking partners to even assist and guide better on how to offer the services to this business so yes and that's definitely something we will be looking to offer fantastic fantastic so I guess that's something for the

[00:29:29] future which is probably driven by some of the trends and insights that you collect from your database and customers very correct 100 correct brilliant so if we keep on the theme of trends are there any exciting trends that you're seeing in the african payment space that you're

[00:29:48] currently excited about I'm really excited about what firms like us are doing to try to make it possible for people to just make payments with a click of a button within africa it'll be nice

[00:30:00] to see that day where businesses are saying they don't have to bother themselves anymore with how to move money from Nigeria to Benin Republic Benin Republic is I think the closest country to Nigeria until today if you're looking to make payments to Benin Republic

[00:30:16] it's a nightmare basically it's still exciting to see african firms attempt rigorously to crack that solution where we just one click you're able to make payments and it doesn't almost seem like a hassle anymore get into the point where there is that feeling of

[00:30:30] having just one africa I mean dangl today just mentioned recently that to even move around Africa he needs about 37 visas yes in what payments looks like with that so cracking that that's a problem in front of us there that we actually need to really solve it's not about

[00:30:46] what we're already doing now making local payments making people be able to collect payments locally in Nigeria or payouts locally in Nigeria I see that's I won't say easy but people are doing and they're really doing well but the person who's able to really crack that myth

[00:30:59] that's what's exciting me right now possibilities are really massive fantastic thank you for sharing that so if we move past current trends and look at the future where do you see Africa in the next five years with regards to the ease of moving money across all major

[00:31:16] african markets and globally I think it will happen I think let the back will get it done I think we're close to it I think we're doing it already today I don't think there's any firm

[00:31:27] out there that moves money as fast as let the back within the countries where we move money so I think we will get it done I just I think in five years quite a number of african

[00:31:37] businesses will be at that stage where they're doing it and they're able to move money seamlessly what I know for a fact is there was a time when production and industrial revolution

[00:31:47] and industrialization was not in china but right now it's focused on china and in there right now africa will take over that button of trade commerce payments revolutionizing payments and moving money often about I think Africa will take on that mantle and be the hub of

[00:32:02] trade and commerce within the next five years and payment has a huge and very key part of play there I agree so if we look closer to home where do you see yourself and lever back in five years

[00:32:13] time what role specifically will you be playing in shaping the future of financial access and movement of money well to continually just keep providing that infrastructure and that's what we'll be doing definitely you'll find us keep providing the required infrastructure to scale

[00:32:32] there are many sectors that will thrive when payment works I'll give an example there's a very clear reason why logistics the logistics sector is really really exciting in africa right now it's because there are some connecting the reason why it's not been prevalent is successful

[00:32:49] is because they're connecting factors that will help you thrive which are not there yet it's the same way payments too is a major factor that if it's resolved it can help other

[00:32:58] sectors thrive so I'm looking forward to a situation where I'm leatherback is able to help many sectors thrive logistics firms transport firms when payments is easy innovation thrives many people are able

[00:33:11] to come up with solutions you don't have to bother about how do I get my money you think beyond borders there's something fantastic about able to know I can sell my goods on facebook and

[00:33:20] instagram today but I advertise in there I don't need to be in UK or Canada I can just run and add to people in UK and Canada your tax payments to that makes life very easy so we will

[00:33:31] keep being there to offer the payment infrastructure required to enable innovation and growth thrive across multiple sectors and allow those sectors that have not really thrived in Africa grow significantly as people we often have quotes mantras african proverbs or affirmations

[00:33:49] that keep us going when times are challenging or when times are good do you have one that you can share with us today well interesting just keep going I think that's it for me keep going

[00:34:01] keep going yeah you know I've been asked many times it's just keep going keep going don't stop spoken like a true entrepreneur yeah just keep going move forward no matter what the challenges are

[00:34:13] whether it's good or bad day it's all about movement and progress just keep going exactly fantastic thank you for sharing that with us ibrahim so we've come to the closer to today's conversation I was wondering if you had any closing remarks for people who are

[00:34:27] interested in the work that you're doing in leverback or people who are just interested in the mobile money fintech space in general for me personally it's to just encourage more people who are looking to come into the space the space is not saturated like many people think

[00:34:42] we're actually not scratching the surface at all yet well maybe we're just scratching the surface there's a whole lot that we have to do and um we need all the help we can get and um for me

[00:34:51] it's also to encourage regulators to not see fintechs as um as the bad guys here working together can only end in a positive outcome and that's it it can only end right so um to just encourage

[00:35:04] more people to come into the space we are seeing so many people coming into the space now which is very exciting and um yeah to also say leverback is open to collaborations at any point in time

[00:35:13] we want to see sectors thrive and grow we're open to collaborations please feel free to reach out to us and we're very very interested in seeing how to help every major complex or easy sector

[00:35:24] what a great way to close today's conversation it's been a fantastic conversation um thank you for sharing your journey and your mission to redefine global financial access and trade borders or trade corridors between some countries which have not really considered in terms of the

[00:35:46] african-india-nigeria corridor which is quite interesting and enlightening so yeah thank you for sharing that knowledge and insight today thank you very much for having me pretty glad to be here it's been an absolute pleasure and thank you for your time ibrahim we will speak soon

[00:36:03] all right take care yourself thank you so much thank you to everyone who has listened and stayed tuned to the podcast if you've enjoyed this episode please subscribe share or tell a friend about it you can also rate review us in apple podcast or wherever you download your

[00:36:20] podcast thank you and see you next week for the Unlocking Africa podcast