How Theparkpay is rewriting Africa’s payment playbook

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Read History Go to My Account Log Out Enhanced by Google Interview How Theparkpay is rewriting Africa’s payment playbook Chukwuemeka Ajanah is the founder & Group CEO of ParkFirst Group. In this interview with Stephen Onyekwelu, he explains how

Listen to this article Share Chukwuemeka Ajanah is the founder & Group CEO of ParkFirst Group. In this interview with Stephen Onyekwelu, he explains how Theparkpay’s cross-border payment infrastructure eliminates traditional correspondent banking delays, hidden FX fees, and settlement risks for Nigerian businesses.

Nigeria’s high cost of doing business remains a major constraint. How can Theparkpay help reduce costs, delays, and inefficiencies around international payments?

The cost of an FX payment in Nigeria is rarely just the fee on the invoice. It is the spread lost on the exchange rate, the two to six working days a supplier waits for value, the working capital that sits idle in transit, and the deals that fall through because a counterparty will not wait.

Together, these factors can cost an importer a meaningful share of every transaction before a container ship. That is the real cost of doing business, and it is the problem Theparkpay was built to solve.

Our approach is to remove the layers. Traditional correspondent banking routes a payment from Lagos through two or three intermediary banks, each taking a fee and adding a day.

Theparkpay connects Nigerian businesses directly to licensed payment rails in the destination market. A payment to Guangzhou, Dubai, or London settles through a local rail at the receiving end rather than a chain of correspondents. That collapses settlement time from days to hours and, in many corridors, to minutes.

On pricing, we are transparent. Businesses can see the exchange rate on www.theparkpay.com, the fee before they commit, and the amount the beneficiary receives. There are no deductions discovered after the fact.

With SMEs and import-dependent businesses facing FX challenges, what solutions is Theparkpay developing to help them preserve more value?

Value preservation comes down to three things: the rate you get, the timing you control, and the currency you are forced to hold. Firstly, competitive and transparent FX. We aggregate liquidity from multiple sources so businesses can access rates close to interbank rather than retail markup. For an SME paying suppliers monthly, that difference is the difference between a profitable quarter and a loss-making one.

Second, multi-currency accounts. A Nigerian exporter who receives dollars, pounds, or euros should not be forced to convert the day the money lands. Our platform lets businesses hold receipts in the currency they were earned, pay suppliers from that balance without a second conversion, and convert to Naira when timing suits them. Every conversion avoided is value preserved.

Third, dedicated supplier payment tools. We help businesses set up recurring supplier payments and pre-agreed rates so FX exposure is managed rather than endured. Clients in pharmaceuticals, trading, automobile trade, aviation, FMCGs, and manufacturing inputs already use these to bring predictability to their cost of sales.

The NESG 2026 theme is “Growth That Works.” What would a payment ecosystem that supports productive growth look like?

Growth that works reaches the productive economy — the manufacturer, the exporter, the agro-processor, the software company — not just the trading floor. A payment ecosystem that supports it has four features.

It is fast, because capital stuck in transit is not working. It is priced fairly, because a system that skims every transaction is a tax on productivity. It is interoperable, so a Nigerian business can move money to and from any market without building a new relationship for every corridor. And it is trusted, so international counterparties treat a payment from Nigeria with the same confidence as one from Singapore or Germany.

Nigerian businesses are often asked to prepay in full or route payments through third countries because of perceptions about our payment environment. Every time a licensed, compliant Nigerian institution settles cleanly and on time, that perception shifts. Theparkpay is building a track record transaction by transaction.

Theparkpay has expanded its regulatory footprint internationally, including its recent Payment Service Provider licence in Canada. How does this strengthen your ability to connect Nigerian businesses to global markets?

A licence is not a trophy. It is an access key. Our registration as a Payment Service Provider in Canada under the Retail Payment Activities Act, alongside other approvals, means Theparkpay is a regulated counterparty in the jurisdictions where clients need to send and receive money.

That changes the conversation with international banks, liquidity providers and payment networks. We are no longer asking to be let in; we are a peer at the table. For a Nigerian business, the effect is direct. A regulated presence means local account details, local settlement and local currency.

An exporter selling to Canada can be paid in Canadian dollars as if domestic, and a Nigerian company paying a Canadian supplier does so through a domestic rail rather than a correspondent chain. The same logic applies in every market where we hold or are pursuing authorisation.

It also builds trust both ways. Regulators in Canada, the United Kingdom and elsewhere apply rigorous standards on safeguarding client funds, anti-money laundering controls and governance. Meeting those standards tells Nigerian clients their funds are protected, and tells international partners that a Nigerian-led fintech operates to a global bar.

What are the biggest payment infrastructure gaps preventing Nigerian SMEs, exporters, freelancers and digital businesses from accessing global markets?

There are three gaps that matter most. The first is inbound. Freelancers, exporters, and digital businesses find it harder to receive foreign income. Many platforms cannot pay directly to a Nigerian account, so income is routed through informal channels, delayed, or lost to intermediaries.

Theparkpay addresses this with receiving accounts in major currencies, so a Nigerian business can give an international client the same local bank details a business in that country would provide.

The second is outbound. Small businesses face limits, delays, and uncertainty when paying international suppliers, and are often pushed towards parallel channels that carry real legal and financial risk. We give them a licensed, compliant, transparent route that is fast enough to compete with the informal alternatives and safe enough to build a business on.

The third is treasury. Most Nigerian SMEs have no tool for managing currency exposure; they absorb whatever the rate does. Our multi-currency wallet and forward-looking FX tools give even a small business the ability to hold, plan and convert deliberately.

Your new digital application allows customers to send, receive, hold and spend across multiple currencies. What measurable difference do you expect this to make to the way African businesses manage liquidity, foreign payments and international transactions?

The measurable differences are in time, cost and control, and we expect to see all three within the first year of a business using the platform.

On time, settlement that previously took several working days moves to same-day or near-instant in our core corridors. For a business that pays suppliers weekly, that recovers days of working capital every cycle.

On cost, businesses that hold and pay from a foreign-currency balance avoid the double conversion, from foreign currency to Naira and back again, that quietly erodes margins. Combined with wholesale-linked rates, we expect clients to retain a materially larger share of every transaction than they do through conventional channels.

On control, the application gives a business a single view of its balances across currencies, the ability to convert when the rate is right rather than when the bank dictates, and the means to spend directly from a foreign balance. That is the difference between reacting to the FX market and managing it.

The broader shift is behavioural. When an African business can operate multi-currency as naturally as a business in London or Toronto, it starts to think and plan like a global business. That is the change we are building for, and it is one that will show up in export volumes, supplier relationships and the confidence with which Nigerian companies bid for international work.

Your new app allows customers to send, receive, hold and spend across multiple currencies. What measurable difference will this make?

The differences are in time, cost, and control. On time, settlement that previously took several working days moves to same-day or near-instant in our core corridors. For a business that pays suppliers weekly, that recovers days of working capital.

On cost, holding and paying from a foreign-currency balance avoids the double conversion from foreign currency to Naira and back again, which erodes margins. Combined with wholesale-linked rates, clients retain a materially larger share of every transaction.

On control, the application gives a single view of balances across currencies, the ability to convert when the rate is right rather than when the bank dictates, and the means to spend directly from a foreign balance. When an African business can operate multi-currency as naturally as a business in London or Toronto, it starts to plan like a global business.

How can more efficient cross-border payment systems help startups, freelancers and digital businesses earn and retain more foreign income?

Nigeria has one of the largest pools of young, skilled, digitally native talent. The problem is not demand for Nigerian talent; it is that too much of what they earn never arrives intact.

Efficient payments fix this directly. When a freelancer can receive payment in dollars or pounds into an account they control, hold it, and decide when to convert, they keep more. When a startup can invoice an international customer and be paid without the customer navigating an unfamiliar route, it wins more contracts.

Every naira is retained rather than lost to spread funds, another hires, another product, another export. Payment infrastructure is the plumbing that determines whether the earnings of Nigeria’s digital economy stay in Nigeria.

What opportunities do you see for Nigerian businesses to use these corridors to expand exports and participate in global value chains?

A payment corridor is, in practical terms, a market that is now open. When Theparkpay establishes settlement in a country, a Nigerian business can sell there, buy there and be paid there without the friction that previously made that market uneconomic.

The most immediate opportunity is in exports. Nigerian agricultural products, processed goods, fashion, creative content and professional services have willing buyers abroad. What holds volumes back is often the buyer’s reluctance to deal with payment complexity. When we can tell an international buyer they can pay through their own domestic bank, in their own currency, that objection disappears.

The second opportunity is in sourcing. Manufacturers who can pay suppliers in Asia, Europe and the Americas quickly and reliably can negotiate better terms and respond faster to demand. The third is regional. African trade under AfCFTA will only be as strong as the payment infrastructure beneath it.

How is Theparkpay balancing faster transactions with stringent regulatory and compliance requirements?

We do not see speed and compliance as a trade-off. A payment institution that is fast but unreliable on compliance will not be fast for long, because its banking partners and regulators will shut its corridors. Compliance is what keeps the rails open.

KYC and KYB verification are done thoroughly at onboarding, so transactions move without repeated manual friction.

Transaction monitoring and sanctions screening are automated and applied in real time, so a clean payment is not delayed. Where review is required, we resolve it quickly and communicate clearly.

Operating across jurisdictions means meeting the highest standard, not the lowest. We build to the most demanding standard and apply it everywhere.

Looking ahead, what role does Theparkpay intend to play, and what policy changes would accelerate that ambition?

Our ambition is to be the regulated infrastructure through which African businesses transact with the world as easily as they transact at home. That means more licensed markets, deeper liquidity, and a platform that treats multi-currency business as the norm.

Over the next three to five years, we intend to be the counterparty of choice for Nigerian enterprises going global. On policy, three changes would accelerate that. First, regulatory clarity and consistency for licensed payment institutions.

Second, a genuinely transparent and liquid foreign exchange market. Sustaining reforms and closing the gap between official and parallel pricing will do more for competitiveness than any incentive scheme.

Third, active engagement with international regulators and payment networks to establish Nigeria as a trusted jurisdiction. Nigeria has the talent, the market size, and the entrepreneurial energy. What it needs is infrastructure that lets those strengths reach the world.

Stephen Onyekwelu is BusinessDay’s Strategy & Enterprise Delivery Executive, specialising in turning editorial vision into enterprise outcomes. A former Online News Editor and lead of the Go Local initiative (print, podcast & BDTV in partnership with Providus Bank), he blends investigative storytelling with platform strategy, conference design, and cross-functional delivery.