Nigeria’s Moniepoint enters Kenya with 78% stake in Sumac microfinance

Moniepoint Inc., a Nigerian business-banking unicorn, has completed its acquisition of a 78% stake in Kenya’s Sumac Microfinance Bank, ending a multi-year effort by the Nigerian fintech to secure a foothold in East Africa’s largest economy.

The deal was finalised on Thursday as executives gathered for a reception in Nairobi’s Westlands area. It provides Moniepoint with a deposit-taking licence, an essential requirement for its credit-led expansion strategy.

After a previous attempt to enter the market via payments firm Kopo Kopo stalled, the acquisition of Sumac allows Moniepoint to bypass the Central Bank of Kenya’s (CBK) long-standing freeze on new licences and compete with incumbents such as Safaricom and Equity Group.

The transaction reflects a broader shift in the African fintech landscape: from pure-play payments to licensed banking and consolidation. By securing a majority stake in a 20-year-old institution, Moniepoint gains the regulatory infrastructure needed to deploy its high-velocity lending model to Kenya’s small and medium -sized enterprises (SMEs).   

The move also signals the company’s ambition to build a cross-border ecosystem that captures the entire merchant value chain, rather than solely on transaction fees.

Moniepoint’s entry into Kenya follows its acquisition of Orda, a cloud-based restaurant software provider, earlier this week. The company plans to export its business-in-a-box strategy—which integrates inventory management, payroll, and working capital—into a market where digital lending is undergoing increased  regulatory scrutiny. This will be achieved by combining Orda’s vertical SaaS capabilities with Sumac’s banking infrastructure.

Moniepoint, which processed more than $294 billion in annualised transaction value in 2025, is likely betting that its experience in Nigeria’s fragmented retail sector will translate effectively to Kenya. 

While Sumac is a tier-three lender, its existing branch network and regulatory standing offer Moniepoint one of the ways to scale in a region increasingly shaped by digital-first credit.