Benjamin Fernandes

For too long, philanthropy and traditional nonprofits have been the primary avenues for empowering communities across Africa. This panel will explore how entrepreneurship can serve as a transformative tool to drive lasting impact without relying on handouts. Bringing together impact investors, entrepreneurs, and VCs, we will discuss strategies to build sustainable, scalable enterprises that transcend borders and create real change across the continent. Attendees will hear firsthand from investors and founders on the trade-offs and synergies between profitability and purpose.

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Building a fintech company that reshapes how money moves across Africa—and beyond—is no easy feat. The challenges go far beyond the headlines. Few succeed in this market. To scale, you need more than a great idea—you need resilience, sacrifice, and relentless determination.

How do you convince Silicon Valley investors to back an African startup? What does it take to challenge the status quo in the global financial system? And what are the real, behind-the-scenes battles of building something that truly lasts?

Benjamin Fernandes, Founder & CEO of NALA, has lived it all—and he’s here to tell the unfiltered truth.

Born and raised in Tanzania, Benjamin first made his mark as a national television personality. But he had bigger ambitions. Earning scholarships that took him to the U.S., he became the youngest African ever admitted to the MBA program at Stanford Graduate School of Business. Yet instead of climbing the corporate ladder or staying in Silicon Valley, he took the harder road—building a company that would transform how Africans send and receive money across borders.

That company is NALA. What started as a simple remittance app has grown into one of Africa’s most ambitious fintech ventures. Today, NALA powers seamless, low-cost payments from the U.S. and Europe into Africa, cutting through the inefficiencies of the global financial system. Now, with a $40 million oversubscribed Series A funding round, and a Forbes cover story to match, NALA is expanding beyond remittances—building its own payment rails, launching a B2B platform (Rafiki), and setting its sights on global markets, including Asia and Latin America.

In this rare, behind-the-scenes conversation, Benjamin will pull back the curtain on the real journey—the wins, the losses, the breakthroughs, and the breakdowns. No filters. No fluff. Just the raw truth of what it takes to build and scale a fintech company in Africa.

If you’re an entrepreneur, investor, or believer in bold ideas and Africa’s unstoppable rise, you won’t want to miss this.

Come for the insights. Stay for the inspiration.

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