Duplo, a Nigerian startup that builds financial operations software for businesses, wants banks to drive its next phase of growth. It has partnered with Wema Bank, one of Nigeria’s oldest lenders, to distribute its software through ALAT Business, the bank’s business banking platform, a model Duplo’s chief executive officer, Yele Oyekola, said the startup plans to replicate with other banks. 

Wema Bank is the first commercial bank to distribute Duplo’s software. The move reflects an emerging pattern across Africa’s financial services industry in the past three years: banks and payment networks partnering with fintech startups to offer their business customers software they want, without building it themselves.

In 2023, global card issuer-processor Paymentology partnered with Boya, a Kenyan business spend management startup, and Diamond Trust Bank (DTB), a mid-tier lender, to launch virtual corporate expense cards that combine banking infrastructure with expense management software. 

In 2024, Mastercard, the payments giant, struck a similar partnership with South African fintech SAVA, giving businesses across South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, and Egypt access to expense management, digital accounts, and accounting tools through SAVA’s platform. 

“A lot of the banks are actually in a shift now where their customers are requesting, or even going to fintech platforms like Duplo and others, to get more than the banks can provide,” Oyekola told TechCabal in an interview on Wednesday. “Doing that work as a bank would require layers of approvals and technical resources that might distract them from their core [operation]. That was why it made sense for them [Wema Bank] to work with us.” 

Founded in 2021 by Oyekola and Tunde Akinnuwa, Duplo develops software to help businesses…