Ola Oetauyo has given him the opportunity to throw in the job of a safe and secure accountant in the city of London and get a chance to return to Africa. Finally, there is a light bulb moment that makes a difference. We've heard hundreds of entrepreneurs have epiphanies in their gyms, coffee shops and mothers' backyards. They then grabbed pens and paper and sketched out the business of making their fortune.
In contrast, Ola Oyetayo says his burgeoning money transfer business came from a late-night poker game.
It was at the turn of the card that Oitayo met his fellow countryman and co-founder of Welt, Anthony Odoo. He is a former analyst who worked in the capital city with Barclays, Lloyds, Merrill Lynch and Bank of America. They fought each other for their wisdom every poker night.
“People say I don't bluff. I have a very straight face,” says Oitayo.
“Don't tell him this, but I think you can read Anthony very well because he can be very impulsive. I have a strict, serious look on my face so you really don't know what I'm doing. I think I have a straight poker face.”
This straight face brought the money grumble of a heeled poker school. All were Nigerian expatriates who took away their trade in the city of London. All complained about the costs and troubles of sending them home to Africa.
The skilled Nigerians working in London are legions. In 2021, research firm Statista brought the number of Nigerians living in London to 142,000. In a Nigerian bar, you can hear London called “Lagos North.” In the city of Thames, the outskirts of Peckham are nicknamed “Little Lagos.”
Behind their poker faces, Oitayo and Odoo listened and thought. They decided to quit their lucrative jobs in the city and seize an opportunity. I ask if they were gambling. “I don't say that. I take calculated risks, like most entrepreneurs do. I think the concept of entrepreneurship is about risk taking. You think of something and try to actually deliver it. In most cases, it doesn't pay off.
With this in mind, the two set out to build a company. One employs 200 people today and moves from its London base to 250mA month in 22 African countries. There are seven offices all over the world.
Cash on chip
Along the way, Verto raised capital in two funding rounds. 2021 seed round and $20 million Series A round. One of the young entrepreneurs behind Flutter Wave and Andera, Iyin Aboyeji is an angel investor in Verto.
“It was literally the two of us (Oyetayo and Odoo). I think we were both lucky. We weren't in the garage with two kids. We worked in financial services for about 10 years, so we spent a bit of nest eggs. And so did Anthony. Say.
“It was very poor. We actually had nothing in terms of platforms. Most of the early activities were done on WhatsApp. We had a lot of customers, we created WhatsApp groups and basically we were running the currency exchange platform on WhatsApp.
Verto was born in 2018 as a small frog in a very large pond. In a market where millions of Africans around the world are prepared to pay hard currency to pay hard currency, there are uncountable many in markets where they are ready to send hard currency or use technology to buy goods and services from small and medium-sized businesses on the ground. Of Verto's businesses, 70% are in small and medium-sized African businesses, moving the reverse way to buy services from overseas.
Flutterwave, a Nigeria-based startup, has over 1 million customers and is far the largest fish in the pond. Founded in 2016, it became a unicorn in a dual era with the help of a $170 million Series C funding round in 2021. It is currently valued at over $3 billion in a growing, lucrative industry.
“We've done some work on this recently. In terms of revenue, the market is around $5.5 billion a year. This focuses on four or five cross-border transactions that need to be encouraged. Taking into account other trade corridors, Oitayo says.
In the face of this competition, seeking great rewards, Wert's first job was to acquire what Oitayo says is the most valuable product in the business.
“Trust. It's always been a business-to-business platform, helping businesses move money internationally. When you say, “Hey, I'm going to help you help you move $20,000 to China,” the business doesn't trust you. They move funds all over the world.
“I then joined the famous Silicon Valley accelerator, Y Combinator, and the biggest lesson I learned from it was that everything had to start small and sometimes we had to do things that didn't scale.
These fundamentals have grown steadily. In March 2019, Verto celebrated the move of 500 Mertons in total throughput. This reached $250 million in June 2025, creating jobs in the process.
“For the first six months, it was me and Anthony. In the first year, we grew to six. The following year, we grew to around 15 years old, up to 30, 50, 70. Over the past two years, we added about 130.
Like a father, like a son
Oitayo was born and raised in the home of an entrepreneur in Lagos. His parents were involved in health care. His late father, Jimmy, owns a pharmacy, and his mother, Bosedo, was a nurse. Oitayo listened to and learned from her parents for studying economics before departing for the UK in 2005. There he trained as an accountant.
“My dad was also an entrepreneur. He worked for a while, but he created a chain of pharmacies that hit a few tough times. So I understand the journey of an entrepreneur trying to do something for yourself.
But it wasn't all voyages for Oyetayo and the Belt. He admits that he sometimes thinks about throwing a towel.
“Ah, yeah, many times in the first three or four years. Especially if we have a career where something arrives at the end of the month, we all feel comfortable. It's rare for a company to fail at a normal job. But it means taking on a lot of responsibility. But it means taking on a lot of responsibility. Stress,” he says with a smile.
“But there's something to keep you faith in your dreams, whether it's shutting down new customers, having great conversations with people who have important points, or getting encouragement from investors who are looking at your potential. It's also helpful to talk to other entrepreneurs who have gone through similar struggles.
Currency challenges
You need to believe in abundance to overcome the biggest hurdles facing businesses, such as regulations and shortages of foreign currency.
“It's difficult to convert local currency into foreign currency for payment. Capital management also poses liquidity challenges. In many cases, the supply of foreign currency is not sufficient. That's our biggest problem right now,” he says.
The Belt handles 50 currencies, from Nigerian Naira to Kenyan Shilling. It seeks to mitigate the issues of currency in technology and products aimed at supporting small and medium-sized businesses, such as multi-currency wallets. According to Oyetayo, traditional banks often include multiple intermediaries and long processing times, including increased transaction costs, delayed payments and business delays.
The answer in terms of currency is that there are fewer currencies, he says. I ask Oitayo if he thinks it will happen. “No, I don't think so – for a number of reasons. But we are successful in Africa, which is successful in Africa. Apart from the euro, there are not many successful single currency cases in the world, like the French-speaking countries that use the CFA (Communauté Financere Africaine Franc). ECOWAS (Economic Communities of West African Countries) also launches a single currency, but I don't know how that is going.
Oyetayo is cautious, but a little more optimistic about the fledgling single market in the African Continent Free Trade Area (AFCFTA), which was launched in 2021 and is fighting to gain momentum.
“Yes, goods and services can be moved, but can you easily get to Rwanda or Angola with your Nigerian passport? Connectivity is another issue. Can you fly directly from South Africa to DRC?
The current tier of regulations is also a bug in the remittance business.
“We want to be in all African markets. Egypt, for example, is difficult to get in due to regulatory requirements. We need to respect the sovereignty of every country. The payment system is tied to a balance between payments and currency reserves. Each central bank wants to manage its own currency.
It takes up to three years to navigate regulations in one country.
“We're a venture-supporting business. This is a big problem to be solved, so we raised capital for the facility. Some of that capital is directed at securing regulatory permits. We pay consultants, legal experts, etc. It depends on the regulatory framework. Overnight,” he says.
Verto and Oyetayo are optimistic about the future and have vast plans.
“We're planning to expand to North Africa. The nature of what we're doing is that most countries require regulatory permits. We're working in Egypt. It's a big market, but there's capital management that we need to navigate. We're also doing more work in French-speaking countries,” he says.
“Five years from now, everything is equal. We will become the leading non-banking financial institution for cross-border payments both inside and outside Africa.”
Bold predictions. Oitayo may not have much time to play poker lately in the evenings. Because he has two small children. But obviously, he still prefers to bet on his future.
