Cynthia Wandia: 36-Year-Old Behind Fintech Startup That Raised Ksh 357 Million Funding

Cynthia Wandia is the CEO and co-founder of Kwara Limited, a Kenyan-based online mobile banking platform.

In January, the fintech raised Ksh 375 million seed extension and signed a distribution agreement with the Kenya Union of Savings & Credit Cooperatives (KUSCCO).

“We think we’ve barely scratched the surface in the Kenyan market. And so, we are just going to be really investing in products and services that deepen our relationship here,” Wandia said.

But what is Wandia’s story and what was the inspiration behind the startup? Here is her story as narrated by WoK.

Entrepreneurship

Wandia, an electrical engineer, first co-founded ASTRA Innovations, a German-based enterprise, in 2014.

The 36-year-old is currently serving as a managing director at the firm.

In 2019, Wandia partnered with one David Hwan and together they founded Kwara Limited, a fintech startup.

Her entrepreneurship journey was inspired by her grandmother who practiced coffee farming, and was actively involved with saccos.

In the course of her entrepreneurial journey, Wandia travelled to different countries and acquired skills centered around financial technology.

It was then when she co-founded ASTRA Innovations and Kwara Limited five years later.

Wandia attended Alliance Girls High School for her secondary school education.

She also attended The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth where she studied Accounting, Finance, Microeconomics, Marketing and Strategy.

Wandia also attended Yale Univer where she graduated with Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering.

Kwara Limited

Kwara Limited made headlines in the recent past after raising Ksh 357 million seed extension.

The fintech startup also entered a partnership deal with with the Kenya Union of Savings & Credit Cooperatives (KUSCCO).

The agreement will see Kwara Limited get access to a pool of more than 4,000 saccos for its banking-as-a-service offering.

At the same time, the agreement states that the fintech will acquire KUSCCO’s subsidiary, IRNET, a software company for saccos.

“The rationale (of the deal) is clear, first it is an opportunity to generate leads and distribute our core product as fast, and to deepen our competitive moat

“We’re entering an exclusive partnership, which also means no other tech company will be able to market with Kuscco. They are stacking their bets on us but we have been able to prove that we can do it as we continue to grow,” Wandia noted.

The company has presence in South Africa and the Philippines.

Kwara upgrades the back-office operations of saccos helping them to shift away from tedious paper-based processes and physical branches

They also help saccos open new avenues for them to sign up new members and create novel products.