As it looks to develop a central hub for payment operations in the East Africa region, Flutterwave is shifting its focus to Rwanda, according to sources.

Oluwabankole Falade, the Chief Regulatory and Government Relations Officer of Flutterwave, reportedly stated the company’s commitment to opening an office in Kenya and designating it as the regional headquarters for its activities in media reports in April 2023.

Due to several lawsuits and claims of money laundering, Flutterwave has had trouble getting a payment provider license in Kenya.

The accusations are false, and Flutterwave has disproved any role in money laundering. There are currently active legal cases against the corporation that are moving through Kenya’s judicial system, even if some of the complaints have been dismissed.

Flutterwave said that it had successfully obtained Electronic Money Issuer (EMI) and Remittance licenses in Rwanda in March 2023. These permits enable Flutterwave to carry out cross-border transactions as well as store money in wallets, much like mobile money service providers.

In 2019, Rwanda became the first nation outside of Nigeria where the fintech company obtained a license to operate as a payment service provider.

According to Olugbenga Agboola, CEO of Flutterwave, “Rwanda is big for us because it’s one of the few markets where we have every license you can think of.”

We intend to establish a financial operations center in Rwanda from which we would coordinate all of our settlement efforts throughout the region. To make that possible, everyone has helped us. Therefore, it makes sense to introduce something to this market and grow it from there, according to Agboola.

Market preparedness is more important than market size, according to this statement. They are here and ready.

Agboola, the CEO of Flutterwave, recognizes Rwanda’s goals to become a major location for handling foreign investment capital into Africa despite the fact that the country is a relatively small market.