Uche Amunike
Lifeandtimes News Writer
Africa’s fast growing food service industry estimated at about $50 billion is about to be secured as Nigerian Fintech company, Moniepoint Acquires Orda Africa, with the motive of expanding its network across the continent.
The acquisition integrates Orda Africa’s cloud-based restaurant software into Moniepoint’s business management platform, Moniebook, allowing food vendors and restaurants to manage orders, payments, inventory and accounting from a single system.
As Moniepoint Acquires Orda Africa, it showcases a wider shift among African Fintech firms that are moving beyond payments to offer operational tools and credits to small businesses, particularly those in the informal economy.
The cofounder and group CEO of Moniepoint, Tosin Eniolorunda stated that the food sector represents one of the most active, yet undeserved parts of Africa’s economy.
While stating that many businesses still rely on manual processes and disconnected tools, he stated that the food industry is a major source of jobs and daily survival for many Africans.
It is a move that reflects a growing competition among financial technology firms to control the digital infrastructure behind small businesses, especially restaurants which generate frequent transactions and require working capital.
The food service market in Africa is growing quickly as urban populations grow and more consumers eat outside the home. In Nigeria alone, the restaurant market reach is about $19.3 billion by 2030, growing at an annual rate of over 11%.
Orda was founded in 2020 and built software designed for small and independent restaurants that previously operated without digital systems. Their tools help businesses to track orders, manage kitchen workflows and monitor stock levels.
CEO of Orda, Guy Kuti, has stated that joining Moniepoint would allow the company to connect operational data from restaurants with financial services like payments and credit.
He reiterated that the company needs to connect that expertise with comprehensive financial infrastructure in order to truly transform the industry, adding that customers will continue to use the platform while getting access to new services.
In 2015, Moniepoint was founded by Eniolorunda and Felix Ike and has grown rapidly in Nigeria’s fintech sector.
According to the company, it serves more than 20 million businesses and individuals and processes over $250 billion in digital payment transactions, yearly.
The company has become one of Nigeria’s largest merchant acquirers, powering a significant share of points-of-sale transactions across the country.
As Moniepoint acquires Orda Africa, it signals how fintech firms are increasingly targeting specific sectors, instead of offering generic financial services. Restaurants and food vendors are especially attractive because they generate daily transactions and rely on steady supply chains, creating opportunities for lending and financial data analysis.
According to experts, digitising restaurant operations could help to unlock access to credit for many small food businesses that struggle to obtain loans as a result of poor record keeping.
As Moniepoint acquires Orda Africa, they could gain deeper insights into how restaurants operate, from sales patterns to inventory cycles, to develop lending products tailored to the sector.
