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By Chinenye Anuforo
For years, the fintech narrative across emerging markets has revolved around mobile-first, app-centric solutions. Yet this singular focus has often failed to address the most significant and underserved market segments. One of the clearest examples of a more grounded, inclusive approach can be found in the operations of Wave Africa, whose product strategy in Nigeria is now being recognised as a practical model for financial inclusion.
Spearheading this initiative is Product Manager, Omon Eni, who, alongside her team, has re-evaluated what a Minimum Viable Product should look like for the typical Nigerian civil servant who is not digitally native. Instead of defaulting to flashy technology or feature-packed apps, the team shifted focus to solving the real challenge: accessibility.
While other fintechs poured resources into building advanced mobile applications, Eni’s team discovered through research that low smartphone ownership and high internet costs were the main obstacles for their target users. “The data was unequivocal,” said a product designer on Eni’s team. “Any product that required a consistent internet connection was dead on arrival for a significant portion of our target users. Omon’s leadership was crucial in forcing us to pivot from a technology-led to a problem-led mindset. The problem was access, so the solution had to be access.”
This shift led Wave Africa to build its core lending product on USSD technology. While not as attention-grabbing as an app, the decision to use Unstructured Supplementary Service Data proved effective on multiple levels. USSD is available on virtually every GSM phone, allowing the product to reach the entire mobile-owning population, regardless of smartphone use. It eliminates data costs for users and offers a familiar, text-based interface that requires little to no onboarding.
Under Eni’s direction, the platform was launched and refined through continuous user feedback. It now serves over 12,000 active users and has processed more than ₦100 million in transactions. Beyond the technology, Eni also led the design of supporting systems, including agent banking networks for cash-in and cash-out transactions, and SMS notifications to ensure usability for non-internet users.
Wave Africa’s CEO, Oluwatimilehin, credited Eni’s cross-functional leadership as central to the company’s success. “She navigates the complexities between engineering constraints, regulatory compliance, and the on-the-ground realities of our customer experience with remarkable skill. She ensures that every product decision, from API integration for credit checks to the wording of an SMS receipt, is optimised for trust and usability,” he said.
Wave Africa’s progress highlights an often-overlooked lesson in global fintech: real product-market fit in underserved communities is not achieved by imposing technology but by adapting it to existing behaviour. By putting accessibility and resilience first, the company has not only reached an untapped market but also created a model that others may find worth replicating.
