Onyinye Olisah is transforming Africa’s fintech landscape through PayOnUs, simplifying cross-border payments and promoting digital financial inclusion.
Onyinye Olisah, a Nigerian fintech entrepreneur and CEO of PayOnUs, is simplifying cross-border transactions for African businesses. Her work addresses long-standing payment challenges within Africa’s rapidly expanding financial technology sector. PayOnUs is a digital payments company dedicated to this mission.
From banking to fintech leadership
Olisah’s career began in traditional banking, where she gained experience in financial operations and customer service. Over the years, she worked with institutions including Intercontinental Bank and Providus Bank, progressing through roles that exposed her to the structural gaps affecting African businesses.
She recalls how many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) struggled with unreliable payment systems and limited access to financial tools that could support cross-border trade. These observations, she explains, shaped her interest in technology-driven financial inclusion and later inspired the creation of PayOnUs.
Establishing PayOnUs
Olisah founded PayOnUs to improve how African merchants handle payments across borders. The company, which operates within the wider financial technology ecosystem, offers solutions that support businesses in sectors such as e-commerce, digital services, and foreign exchange.
According to the firm, PayOnUs aims to make transactions more reliable and affordable by developing infrastructure that could improve local realities such as limited internet access and fragmented financial regulations across the continent. The platform’s services are designed to enable businesses to receive and process payments seamlessly, whether for domestic or international transactions.
While still a growing player in the fintech space, the platform positions itself as part of the new wave of African firms addressing financial accessibility at scale.
Financial inclusion remains a core principle for Onyinye Olisah. She maintains that digital payments should be available to all, regardless of location or technological limitations. PayOnUs has reportedly explored tools that make transactions possible on basic mobile phones, extending digital access to users without smartphones or stable internet connections.
The company also engages with regulators and other fintech stakeholders to encourage collaboration and standardisation within Africa’s payment ecosystem, a step Olisah believes is necessary to foster trust and efficiency across borders.
Developing human capital
Beyond fintech, the Nigerian technopreneur is an advocate for youth empowerment and digital literacy. Onyinye Olisah supports initiatives that train young Africans in technology-related skills, viewing human capital as a critical component of the continent’s digital future.
As digital finance continues to evolve, PayOnUs represents part of a broader shift towards inclusive growth in Africa’s payment systems. While still expanding its footprint, the company’s focus on accessibility, regulatory engagement, and innovation positions it as a noteworthy participant in the continent’s evolving financial industry.
