The highway to Yamoussoukro

The highway to Yamoussoukro is an asphalt dream cutting through a sprawling national forest.

The speed limit sits at a generous 110mph. We have a full tank of fuel, half a bottle of tequila and amapiano.

Nothing can go wrong. Wrong.

At N’Douci, 80 kilometers from Yamoussoukro, the fuel indicator comes on. Google map says there is a Shell station 10 kilometers ahead.

"Hit it" – our cruising range drops. My fear climbs.

When we pull up to the pump 10 kilometers later, I am holding out my trusty Dollar card. The attendant shakes her head.

"Pas de carte"

They don't accept cards. We are out of cash. We don't have mobile money. We have nothing but this (very useless) Dollar card.

I have now entered my biggest fintech horror story yet. Cue 80 minutes of sitting hopelessly at a filling station in the middle of nowhere.

I miss the comfort of our AirBnb back in Abidjan.

We soon catch a break. Somewhere between their broken English and our bad French, we pick up that they accept Wave. Segun Abisagbo, who sits dejectedly on the curb, knows about Wave Mobile Money and so he jerry-rigs a connection between Wave, an FX trader in Benin Republic and his mobile money app and pays. (Thank you, Segun).

Why am I telling this story?

It is an interesting illustration of how much opportunity still exists in fintech in Africa. I discussed ideas on "how to build fintech products in Africa" some very smart fintech people and they delivered a masterclass on exciting opportunities in payments, wealth creation, niche investment products, B2B payments and infrastructure.

So much value came from that conversation that I co-authored a book about it complete with checklists on how to apply for fintech licenses, build relationships with regulators and set up your engineering stack.

Download it here: How to launch a fintech ebook in Africa {co-author}