Alice Ndeh

Updated March 2026

More than half of Francophone Africans rely on informal banking

Across Francophone Africa, lack of formal credit scoring and inconsistent financial record-keeping makes accessing affordable credit a persistent challenge. Only around 40% of people in the region have a bank account, meaning millions of families and entrepreneurs live outside formal banking systems. As a result, they rely on irregular income and informal savings groups that make it difficult to plan, invest or respond to emergencies. 

Based in Cameroon, Alice Ndeh is a software engineer by training. In 2021, a friend approached her with the idea for a mobile application that could help Francophone Africans manage their finances. She could immediately see the potential — Alice had previously worked as a freelance developer and found it tricky to manage the resulting inconsistent payments in a sensible way. 

Originally conceived as a side project, the team was surprised by the speed at which their customer base was growing, driven almost entirely by word of mouth. They started working full-time to build the technology infrastructure necessary to keep up with the demand, and Nkwa was officially born.

Nkwa’s savings-based fintech solution rewards financial discipline 

Today, Alice is Nkwa’s chief technical officer and one of its three co-founders. The fintech platform is designed to transform everyday savings into a powerful financial identity. Users save toward defined personal or business goals through its mobile app, creating a financial record that encourages budgeting and goal tracking. Their deposits can be as small as $0.55 USD, making saving feel more accessible. 

Nkwa then uses this record of their saving discipline to create an alternative credit score. With a good score, users may be able to unlock access to small, responsible credit with affordable repayments. Nkwa calls this credit “nano loans.” By focusing on this behavioral data rather than traditional measures to judge creditworthiness, such as collateral or formal credit files, the business enables access to responsible borrowing for an otherwise financially excluded population.

As well as individuals, Nkwa also serves micro, small and medium-sized businesses. Rather than saving for personal expenses like rent and furniture, these startups are thinking bigger, saving to purchase trucks that enable them to provide waste management services, motorbikes that help electricians to serve customers further afield, and premises that convert an online perfume business into a physical store. 

Women’s empowerment is embedded into Nkwa’s products and operations. Over 54% of its early users are women, including market vendors, single mothers and young graduates, with a significant share accessing credit for the first time. Many were onboarded through outreach programs specifically designed to expand women’s access to digital financial services.

The business also collaborates with women-led njangi. These traditional Cameroonian savings groups are made up of members who pool their resources and manage them for mutual financial benefit. By moving their savings to Nkwa, the groups can track their progress more easily and earn interest on their savings. 

The vision is reflected in the company’s name. “Across different African contexts, ‘nkwa’ carries positive meanings,” Alice explains. “In Cameroonian Pidgin, it means ‘pocket’ — a place where you keep your money or valuables. In several Ghanaian languages, it means ‘life.’

“In many ways, that captures what we are building: a safe place where people can protect and grow their financial lives.”

Tens of thousands of users empowered with greater financial stability

Since launch, more than 70,000 users have saved over $8 million USD on the platform, with thousands using Nkwa to manage emergencies, invest in their businesses and build long-term stability. Every month, it transacts close to $750,000 USD.

Building on this strong foundation, the business still has significant room to grow. By 2028, Nkwa aims to become the go-to financial partner for 1 million underserved users in Francophone Africa, with a particular focus on women and young people.