About OurPass
It is a busy, hot day on Lagos Island. You’re trying to pay for your lunch, but your transfer is taking forever to go through. You’re hungry, running out of time, and getting frustrated. Now, imagine the same scenario from the restaurant’s point of view. In addition to your delayed payment, they have to worry about other financial needs, including tracking expenses, paying employees, and accessing credit to grow their business. That is the reality of many small businesses in emerging economies globally. It is a story that OurPass Microfinance Bank (OurPass) was created to change in Nigeria.
Founded in 2020, OurPass is redefining what banking should feel like: fast, simple, and built around how small businesses and their customers operate. The microfinance bank gives customers all the tools to accept money, manage expenses, and grow in one place. Flutterwave is proud to power OurPass’s journey, ensuring small businesses have access to the financial services built with them in mind.
The Challenge
With a mission to create a borderless world for individuals and businesses, OurPass started with an initial focus on helping businesses increase sales by eliminating long entry forms at checkout. As the global economy resets following the post-pandemic e-commerce boom, OurPass reimagined its operations.
The company pivoted into a neobank, offering individuals and small businesses tools to scale. For this transformation to be executed successfully, OurPass needed more than just a payment processor. They needed a payment partner with the infrastructure, reliability, and ecosystem understanding to support their immediate payment needs and growing ambition. OurPass found its right partner in Flutterwave, Africa’s leading payment technology company.
The Solution
- Fintech-as-a-Service (FaaS)
- Payouts
- Online and Offline Payment Collections
In 2021, OurPass integrated Flutterwave’s Fintech as a Service (FaaS), a solution designed to remove the difficulties of building from scratch so that financial service providers could launch their fintech solutions faster. This integration ensures compliance with regulations, incorporates robust security features, and offers all businesses the flexibility to fully customize their solutions.
Our FaaS, –built with an understanding that in a world where small businesses comprise 90% of all companies, innovations can never be too many, met OurPass’s payment needs. It enables the company to offer its growing customer base comprehensive online and offline payment collections as well as payouts via cards, bank transfers, and other local methods.
Our FaaS (Financial as a Service) was developed with the understanding that small businesses make up 90% of all companies, and that innovation is crucial. It successfully meets OurPass’s payment needs by enabling the company to offer its expanding customer base a comprehensive range of online and offline payment solutions. These include payment collections and payouts via cards, bank transfers, and various local methods.
The Outcome
With Flutterwave, OurPass delivers seamless payment experiences for thousands of individuals and businesses across Nigeria. Between 2021 and 2024, the company processed transactions worth more than twelve figures in naira through our payment infrastructure alone. Of these payments, nearly 80% were money paid out to thousands of small businesses that rely on the steady cash flow to continue running and ultimately grow.
Beyond mere numbers, each of these payouts represents rent paid on time, salaries that support families, and purchases that fund dreams. They represent a partnership coming alive to help individuals and businesses achieve their financial goals.
Trusting Flutterwave to handle payment complexities has helped OurPass to focus its attention on redefining banking for small businesses in Nigeria. “Since our strategic business change in mid-2022, our focus has been more than just building faster checkouts,” Eze Samuel, Founder and CEO of OurPass, explains.
“We are building our solutions around how we live, work, and do business. Flutterwave has made the journey easier, removing friction from our payment processes, enabling us to scale faster and serve more customers,” he added.
Good to Know
In 2024, nearly 50% of Flutterwave’s merchants collect payments in new countries and currencies, a testament to the company’s comprehensive reach and scale as one of the most licensed payment technology companies in Africa. This global-ready infrastructure means that before any time passes, OurPass is well-positioned to expand beyond its current markets, serving other small businesses who need the right payment and business tools to grow.
Ready to power fast and seamless e-commerce transactions in Africa? Flutterwave is the payment partner to make it happen. Let’s talk.