Affinity Africa, a Ghanaian digital banking startup revolutionising banking accessibility throughout West Africa, has achieved a noteworthy milestone by surpassing the 100,000 customer milestone.
In an industry where acquiring new customers usually requires significant marketing expenditure, the milestone reflects the company’s “rapid organic growth, powered by word of mouth and customer advocacy,” which was achieved ahead of internal projections.
Affinity Africa’s services
Affinity Africa is a fully regulated, branchless digital banking platform founded in 2022 by entrepreneur Tarek Mouganie and made publicly available in 2024. It provides accessible and reasonably priced financial services to individuals and micro, small, and medium-sized businesses (MSMEs) throughout Ghana.
The platform offers a diverse range of financial products, including SME and personal accounts, high-return savings accounts, domestic and international payments, fund transfers to mobile wallets and banks, investment options, and credit facilities.
Affinity’s digital-first strategy allows it to provide zero-fee banking services, which have proven to be a compelling offer for cost-conscious Ghanaian consumers and small business owners. In contrast, traditional banks are constrained by the expenses of physical infrastructure.
Affinity’s $8 million seed funding round
Affinity announced an $8 million seed funding round earlier in 2025 that was oversubscribed to expedite domestic expansion and prepare to enter new African markets.
The investment puts the startup in a position to grow its product offerings and technological infrastructure while keeping its customer-focused philosophy.
The funding round’s oversubscription indicates that investors have a high level of faith in Affinity’s business plan and the larger African fintech market, where millions of people are still underbanked or denied access to traditional financial services.
Affinity Boost
Building on its success, Affinity recently introduced Affinity Boost, a goal-based savings account with competitive interest rates that helps people and small business owners reach their financial goals more quickly.
The product fills a significant gap in Ghana’s financial system. Many people cannot access savings options that provide substantial returns while preserving accessibility and liquidity.
“The idea that banking could be free, fair, and accessible was long dismissed as impossible in Ghana,” said Tarek Mouganie, Founder of Affinity Africa. “We have shown the opposite. Reaching 100,000 customers ahead of target, with little to no marketing spend, is proof that when you design the right product, customers themselves become your biggest advocates. Our growth has been driven by word of mouth, virality, and genuine customer love.”
Affinity Africa’s organic growth trajectory
The customer acquisition strategies used by the majority of digital banks and traditional financial institutions, which usually devote large budgets to marketing and promotional campaigns, contrast sharply with this organic growth trajectory.
The CEO of Affinity Ghana, Abdul-Jaleel Hussein, credits product-market fit for the company’s success instead of marketing strategies.
“What’s attracting customers to Affinity is not campaigns or promotions, but the product itself,” Hussein explained. “From instant onboarding to transparent pricing and some of the most competitive interest rates in the country, Ghanaians are choosing Affinity because they finally see a financial institution built around their needs. And with our proprietary underwriting, many are accessing credit for the very first time, opening doors for households and businesses that were previously excluded.”
Affinity Africa’s in-house credit underwriting system
Affinity’s in-house credit underwriting system is a noteworthy advancement in Ghana’s financial services industry.
Using alternative data and sophisticated analytics, the platform makes credit available to people and companies that traditional banks have previously disregarded because they lack official credit history or collateral.
Small business owners and employees in the informal sector, who make up a sizable portion of the economy, have had difficulty obtaining formal credit facilities. This strategy directly addresses Ghana’s financial inclusion issue.
A young, tech-savvy population that is growing more at ease with digital financial services, high mobile penetration rates, and better internet infrastructure have all contributed to Ghana’s financial technology sector’s recent explosive growth.
The Bank of Ghana oversees the nation’s regulatory framework, which has changed to allow for digital banking innovations while upholding consumer protection standards.
This well-balanced approach has established an atmosphere where fintech companies like Affinity can compete with well-established financial institutions while operating with regulatory clarity.
Affinity Africa’s top priorities
Affinity Africa is setting itself up for the next stage of growth with the onboarding of 100,000 customers and the infusion of new capital. The following are the company’s top priorities right now:
Product expansion: Introducing new financial products designed to meet the needs of MSMEs.
Geographic expansion: Reaching new markets in Africa with comparable banking gaps.
Technology enhancement: Putting money into platform features to accommodate an expanding clientele.
Credit access: Using improved underwriting models to grow lending operations.
Affinity Africa’s milestone
Affinity Africa’s milestone shows that real product innovation and customer-centric design, rather than costly customer acquisition campaigns, can achieve sustainable growth in emerging markets, as African fintech startups continue to draw attention from international investors and transform the continent’s financial services landscape.
The company’s success also demonstrates the enormous unrealised potential in catering to Africa’s underbanked populations, a market that has proven difficult for traditional financial institutions to economically penetrate.