Nigerian payments technology company Redtech plans to build a digital payments bridge between Kenya and Nigeria, aiming to make it faster and cheaper for people and businesses to move money between Africa's two largest economies by population.

The company's chief executive, Emmanuel Ojo, set out the plan in an interview with Techweez, describing the proposed connection as a digital bridge between Nigeria, with more than 200 million people, and Kenya, with roughly 58 million. The corridor is intended to serve individuals and small businesses, while also supporting larger companies that trade across the two markets.

Redtech expects to introduce its first Kenyan payment product by the end of the first quarter of 2027 at the latest. Ojo described the initial rollout as a limited entry through partners rather than a full-scale launch, saying the company is still testing the market. Its Kenyan partners have not been named, and the company has not disclosed the status of its regulatory engagement with the Central Bank of Kenya or whether it has applied for the necessary authorisations.

Why payments between African countries are slow

Moving money between two African countries can be more complicated than sending it to another continent. According to Ojo, payments often pass through financial institutions in the United States or Europe before returning to Africa, adding intermediaries, costs and processing time. He said such detours can stretch a payment to as long as three days.

The technical infrastructure is part of the problem. Payment systems in different countries communicate through software connections known as APIs, and when two systems follow different technical standards, a transaction can fail even though both countries have working digital payments. Settlement times also vary: Ojo said some African markets settle within 24 hours while others take three or four days.

Businesses expanding into a new country face another barrier. They usually have to register, get verified and pass due diligence checks again with each new payment provider, repeating the same paperwork at every border. Redtech says it wants companies to go through that process once, using a single connection that would eventually serve all 54 African countries.

A $20 billion track record behind the plan

Redtech is positioning its existing payment processing experience as the foundation for the expansion. Ojo said the company processed more than $20 billion worth of transactions in 2025, equivalent to approximately 30 trillion naira, more than double the 12 trillion naira it recorded in 2024.

The company plans to expand through partnerships rather than building everywhere at once. Its partnership with United Bank for Africa gives it a route into 20 African markets, according to Ojo, and the plan is to open its own legal entities and pursue licences country by country afterwards, a process he said can take a year or more in some markets. Redtech has previously said it is targeting 29 African markets, with acquisitions on the table, and has been reported to be weighing a $100 million fundraising round to fund its growth.

Kenya's mobile money market needs a different approach

Kenya will not reward a copy of the Nigerian model, where cards, point-of-sale machines and USSD codes carry much of the load. Mobile money does that job in Kenya, with M-Pesa holding about 89% of mobile money subscriptions, and businesses already use it to collect money from customers and pay suppliers.

Ojo acknowledged that Redtech cannot simply transfer its Nigerian operating model into Kenya without adjustment. "We have to recognize and respect the preferences of consumers in every market," he said. "In the Kenyan market, there is a high affinity for mobile money payment options."

Redtech plans to start with payment and collection tools for micro, small and medium businesses, entering through what Ojo described as an underserved segment rather than challenging the dominant player head on. The wider Kenyan payments market is also changing, with the value of card payments falling 11.55% in the six months to June 2026, according to reporting by the Nation, as payment habits shift and the economy weighs on spending.

For Kenyan businesses that buy from or sell to Nigeria, cheaper and quicker payments would ease the cost of getting paid and settling suppliers. But the corridor's success will depend on agreements between banks, compatible systems, regulators willing to cooperate and settlement that arrives on time, much of which sits beyond one company's control.