Nigeria’s Startup, Zone (formerly Appzone), and Africa’s first regulated blockchain network for payments, has been featured in the Financial Times’ Africa’s Fastest Growing Companies 2023 award list.
According to independent.ng, Zone becomes the first blockchain company in Africa and one of the few Nigerian Fintechs to feature on this prestigious list.
Financial Times and Statista’s Fastest Growing Companies in Africa award is an annual ranking that identifies the top performers in Africa’s private sector. It recognises companies with impressive growth and significant contribution to their respective sectors.
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Following the rigorous process of reviewing entries from hundreds of companies in Africa, Zone will be one of only 100 companies and the first blockchain company in the entire continent to feature on this list.
Obi Emetarom, Co-Founder and CEO of Zone, shared his excitement about the announcement: “We are deeply honoured by this recognition from the Financial Times and Statista. The team also feels a sense of encouragement to double down on our mission to connect every monetary store of value by harnessing the power of blockchain.
By fulfilling our mission, we are laying the foundation for a truly cashless world while expanding access to financial services and fostering a more inclusive and prosperous future for the African continent.”
Olayiwola Osoba, VP of Marketing at Zone, shared his thoughts on the recognition: “Being named one of Africa’s Fastest Growing Companies by the Financial Times and Statista is quite exciting for us at Zone. This recognition is an indication of our team’s immense effort to transform Africa’s payment landscape using an innovative architecture and a superior tech stack. As we celebrate this milestone, we remain dedicated to enabling reliable, frictionless, and universally interoperable payments across Africa and beyond.”
Following the company’s successful transition from a Banking as a Service provider to a Payment Infrastructure company in November 2022 and its success in obtaining a payment switching license from the Central Bank in Nigeria, Zone has recorded impressive milestones building out its decentralised payment network and connecting various financial services providers.
