The collaboration marks the first time a commercial bank in Nigeria has embedded Duplo's business finance management software into its digital banking ecosystem, allowing businesses to access advanced financial operations tools without leaving the ALAT Business platform.
Duplo's Chief Executive Officer, Yele Oyekola, said the company intends to replicate the partnership model with other banks as lenders increasingly seek fintech solutions to meet the evolving needs of business customers.
According to Oyekola, many banks are facing growing demand from customers for services that extend beyond traditional banking offerings, making collaboration with fintech firms a more efficient approach than building such products internally.
"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."
Banks Increasingly Turn to Fintech Partnerships
The Wema Bank collaboration reflects a broader trend across Africa's financial services industry, where banks and payment companies are partnering with fintech startups instead of developing specialized business software from scratch.
In 2023, global card issuer and processor Paymentology partnered with Kenyan spend-management startup Boya and Diamond Trust Bank (DTB) to introduce virtual corporate expense cards that combine banking infrastructure with expense management tools.
A year later, Mastercard entered a similar partnership with South African fintech SAVA, enabling businesses in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Egypt to access expense management, digital accounts and accounting solutions through SAVA's platform.
What the Partnership Offers Businesses
Founded in 2021 by Yele Oyekola and Tunde Akinnuwa, Duplo develops financial operations software that helps businesses automate and manage their financial processes.
Through the Wema Bank integration, ALAT Business customers can now access Duplo's platform directly within the bank's digital banking environment.
The embedded platform enables businesses to automate local and international payments, manage expenses and approval workflows, generate and collect invoices, automate vendor payments, monitor cash flow through real-time reporting, and reconcile transactions from a single dashboard.
To encourage adoption, existing ALAT Business customers will receive three months of complimentary access to the platform.
Oyekola explained that Duplo's decision to build the software entirely in-house allows the company to absorb the cost of the introductory free period.
After the three-month offer expires, Duplo and Wema Bank will share subscription revenue from customers who continue using the platform, although Oyekola declined to disclose the revenue-sharing arrangement. The fintech also generates income through transaction fees on payments processed via its platform.
Building on an Existing Relationship
According to Oyekola, the latest partnership builds on an already established relationship between both companies.
Before embedding Duplo's software into ALAT Business, Wema Bank had already been providing virtual account services to some of Duplo's customers. That collaboration eventually evolved into a deeper integration designed to improve financial management for business clients.
While Duplo remains open to similar collaborations with other financial institutions, Oyekola said the company's immediate priority is driving adoption among Wema Bank's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and mid-market business customers.
From left to right_ Tunde Akinnuwa, COO and Co-founder of Duplo; Yele Oyekola, CEO and Co-founder of Duplo; Tunde Mabawonku, Executive Director, Finance and Digital Optimisation at Wema Bank Plc; Olusegun Adeniyi, Chief Digital Officer at Wema Bank Plc. Image: Duplo.
Growing Customer Base and Expansion Plans
Duplo currently serves more than 1,000 businesses, including major corporate clients such as Heineken and Maersk, and processes over $1 billion in annualised payment volume, according to Oyekola.
The startup has also raised $13 million across three funding rounds from investors, including Point Nine Ventures and Commerce Ventures.
However, the company operates in an increasingly competitive market. Nigerian fintechs such as Bujeti and Flex Finance also provide expense and spend-management solutions for businesses, while Côte d'Ivoire-based Julaya serves similar clients across Francophone Africa.
The global business spend management software market is projected by consulting firm Data Insights to reach $26.68 billion in 2026, with the Middle East and Africa accounting for approximately eight percent of the market.
Highlighting Duplo's customer strategy, Oyekola said the company deliberately focuses on larger businesses rather than micro-enterprises.
"We focus heavily on mid-market and enterprise clients in Nigeria, and they drive a lot of our volumes as well," Oyekola said.
"Across [our] portfolio, about 20% of our customers are mid-market to enterprise businesses; we don't serve any business in the MSME space—it's mostly SMEs, mid-markets, and enterprises."
Path to Profitability
Over the past few years, Duplo has evolved from a payment automation platform into a comprehensive financial operating system, offering treasury management, accounts payable, expense management, invoice generation, collections, reconciliation, international vendor payments and financial reporting.
According to Oyekola, the company's technology business has now reached break-even, with revenue fully covering the cost of developing and maintaining its platform.
Although Duplo is not yet profitable overall, he expressed confidence that the startup will achieve profitability by 2027.
Different Strategies for Nigeria and South Africa
Duplo currently operates in Nigeria and South Africa but is pursuing different growth models in both markets.
In April, the company partnered with South African fintech Ozow to support its expansion into South Africa, leveraging Ozow's payment infrastructure and regulatory licences to serve businesses in the country.
Explaining the different approach, Oyekola said Nigeria remains Duplo's core market, while South Africa represents an expansion opportunity.
"Nigeria is our home market, South Africa is an expansion market," Oyekola said.
"We don't have the same reach in South Africa that we have in Nigeria, and there are some gaps in our regulatory framework there. Ozow was the ideal partner for that, so we use Ozow as our payment service provider [PSP] in South Africa. In Nigeria, we provide that end-to-end because we have a PSP and an IMTO [international money transfer operator] [licence] as well."
Industry observers believe the Wema Bank collaboration underscores a growing shift in the relationship between banks and fintech companies, with banks contributing regulated infrastructure and established customer bases while fintechs deliver innovative software solutions. If the model gains wider acceptance, bank partnerships could become one of Duplo's strongest channels for acquiring business customers and accelerating growth.