The Nigerian payments company is betting that cheaper, faster cross-border settlement can unlock trade between two of Central and Southern Africa’s biggest markets.
Nigerian payments company Nomba has extended its cross-border corridor from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) into Zambia. Businesses on its platform can now pay suppliers in the neighbouring country through bank accounts and mobile wallets.
Under the new arrangement, Congolese businesses can settle with Zambian suppliers in either US dollars or Congolese francs, with licensed local partners handling the transactions. Nomba says it is aiming at firms in agriculture, retail and wholesale trade, sectors where goods and payments routinely move across the border.
The expansion comes weeks after the company secured a $3 million debt facility from CardinalStone Finance in early September 2026. Chief Executive Yinka Adewale said the money “gives us more room to move—more liquidity, more corridors, faster settlement.”
The company says it handles more than $480 million a month across its DRC operations and a Canadian-licensed money services business, and that it is profitable. It has set itself a target of passing $1 billion in monthly cross-border volume.
Founded in 2016, Nomba began as a payments provider and has since repositioned as a business banking and financial infrastructure platform. It says it now processes over $70 billion in payments on an annualised basis, a figure that has not been independently verified.
Zambia is part of a wider plan to build an intra-African payments network, with Uganda named as another early target. Nomba also intends to add deposits, foreign exchange and credit to its offering.
Growth on that scale will need more capital than the new facility provides. The company has indicated it could require between $20 million and $50 million in the coming months and expects to run another funding round. Whether it can raise that money, and build enough transaction volume in each new market, will determine how far the corridor model can stretch.
