The Nigerian founders who turned travel frustrations into a fintech

Developing a $47 million fintech to repair cross-border payments for African tourists is a huge task. Getting previous embassy visas? That’s a bug no line of code can repair. Before releasing Timon, co-founders Oluwatomi Ayorinde and Chizaram Ucheaga invested years browsing the disappointments of taking a trip on a Nigerian passport– from allocating physical money envelopes in India to enjoying bank cards stop working in Paris. They transported those headaches into developing an independent multi-currency travel card, scaling to over 100,000 users throughout 16 African markets. When United States crypto accelerator Alliance backed the start-up, familiar border barriers resurfaced: while the financial investment funds got here in simply 2 weeks, an ended United States visa implied just one creator might board the aircraft to California. In this edition of Digital Nomads, EMMANUEL NWOSU traces how 2 Nigerian creators moved to Nairobi to craft a $47M travel stack– and why physical borders stay the supreme traffic jam for African business owners.

Protecting an invite to Y Combinator (YC), the Silicon Valley start-up accelerator, is a turning point for any start-up creator– up until the logistical difficulty of protecting a United States visa threatens to thwart it.

Oluwatomi Ayorinde, co-founder of Timona start-up that provides cards to regular visitors, discovered this the tough method in 2016 when his previous start-up, Mobile Forms, was welcomed to talk to for YC’s California head office. It was his very first time in the United States, and he had extremely little time to prepare.

Dealing with a stockpile at the American Embassy in Lagos that threatened to lack time for their interview window, Ayorinde and his group rushed for aid. Financier Kola Aina of Ventures Platform, which had actually backed the start-upstepped in, according to Ayorinde, connecting to contacts who might assist accelerate their visa interviews at the United States embassy. The embassy ultimately gave the visas with days to spare.

“Have you ever attempted calling an embassy line? No one chooses it,” Ayorinde stated.

Mobile Forms did not safe admission throughout that cycle, however the experience left an enduring impression. It was among the lots of friction points Ayorinde would come across while taking a trip on a Nigerian passport– a truth that led him to restore his United States visa even without instant itinerary.

The journeys that came before Timon

In 2010, Ayorinde selected India over a master’s degree. He had actually persuaded his moms and dads to let him pursue a three-month expert course in Systems, Applications, and Products (SAP) software application, which he thought about a profitable ability at the time. Reasonably couple of individuals had the accreditation, according to him, and studying in India was less expensive than pursuing a master’s degree.

Accessing cash was the issue. His mom counted on Nigerians taking a trip to India to bring him money. On one event, her pastor provided it. Ayorinde kept the money in an envelope and invested it slowly.

In 2011, he signed up with SAPthe German software application business, and was sent out to the nation for a seven-day work occasion. He invested a complete day queuing at the German embassy to send his application, and the visa showed up so late that he missed out on the very first 2 days, according to him.

“It was a seven-day occasion, and when the visa came out, they offered me a visa for that precise 7 days,” he stated.

Germany likewise exposed him to the problems of investing cash abroad. Ayorinde stated he count on a GTBank dollar card, provided by the Nigerian tier-1 lending institution, which he might money by switching naira for dollars through the bank. Some payments went through. Others stopped working.

Chizaram Ucheaga, who would later on end up being Ayorinde’s co-founder at Timon, had comparable experiences.

In 2013, he took a trip to Kenya for a week to assist a United States business gather information for a medical center it was supporting. He brought money and depend on his host to spend for things. His GTBank dollar card worked inconsistently on later journeys to the UK and the United States. In 2018, on a journey to France, the card stopped working one day, and he handed money to another tourist who paid with a foreign fintech card.

Already, both creators had actually experienced the restrictions of Nigerian bank cards abroad, although their journeys had actually likewise opened them as much as brand-new chances.

Travel likewise altered how both males worked. Ayorinde stated he developed the concept for his very first company in Kenya, which brought him back to Nigeria to develop it.

“My finest concepts come when I’m not in Nigeria,” Ayorinde stated. “I believe I began to understand that if I truly wished to rest, it was heading out of the environment that I’m currently utilized to and remaining in an entire various environment. That was rest for me, which got my brain thinking, since the very first concept for my very first company was right there in Kenya.”

To pay for more journeys, he stopped preparing different vacations. He extended work journeys by 3 to 5 days and covered the additional expenses from cost savings.

Developing a company for wanderers

Throughout a later see to Kenya, Ayorinde started to value what taking a trip provided for his work. Being far from Nigeria offered him space to believe, satisfy individuals, and experience various lifestyles. It was throughout that journey that he developed the concept for his very first company, which ultimately brought him back to Nigeria to develop it.

For many years, he likewise established a method to take a trip without costs excessive. Instead of strategy different vacations, he extended work journeys by 3 to 5 days, utilizing the additional time to check out while covering his individual expenditures from cost savings. The UK was an exception. He had cousins who might accommodate him, making spontaneous check outs reasonably economical.

Ucheaga stated taking a trip likewise altered his expectations of daily life. Beyond the trouble of paying, he started to see the distinction in civil services and facilities in between Nigeria and other nations.

“It sort of opened my eyes to see how things operate in various locations,” he stated. “Sometimes Nigeria simply offers you the brief end of the stick. You simply presume that that’s how it is which’s how it will be permanently. Then when you take a trip around, and you see that individuals might get a much better quality of life, they can require more from the federal government, and the federal government can do much better for the individuals.”

Years later on, these experiences would affect the creators’ choice to construct Timon and ultimately move from Nigeria to Kenya, where they thought they might construct an organization serving visitors throughout several nations.

Relocating to Kenya

South Africa was Ayorinde’s very first option when he thought about leaving Nigeria. He had actually checked out Cape Town, liked it, and protected a South African work authorization. He desired someplace near home, about a six-hour flight away. He likewise thought about the UK, however his application for a Global Talent Visa (GTV) was declined.

Kenya won him over. He had actually offered his previous organization, PayForce (previously CrowdForce), which later on got him into YC and was obtained by FairMoney in 2023, so he had cost savings to make the relocation. On a check out to Kenya, he fulfilled creators who persuaded him that Nairobi used much better chances.

“I felt that I linked much better with individuals there,” he stated.

He likewise saw that lots of equity capital companies had their primary workplaces there. In Europe, America, or South Africa, he felt he would be “simply another taxpayer”.

He returned with his partner for 3 weeks over Christmas to check it. By the end, she was encouraged. The couple accepted invest 2 to 3 years in Kenya, and after that invest a couple of years in a number of nations.

Ucheaga was drawn by Kenya’s lifestyle and growing tech community. He had actually invested years constructing organizations in Nigeria, consisting of Clymb Technologies, a representative banking start-up. He felt a worldwide travel company required a clearer head than Nigeria permitted.

In Kenya, he discovered a various experience. When electrical energy stopped working, he stated citizens might call their power service provider and have actually the fault fixed, in some cases within 30 minutes. He likewise discovered that networking occurred outside official organization conferences. After work, he might play padel and satisfy financiers or other creators on the court.

Transferring, nevertheless, featured migration difficulties. Ucheaga stated they at first thought about Kenya’s digital wanderer license however ultimately pursued work authorizations with the aid of a migration attorney.

The relocation likewise offered both creators distance to financiers and a chance to develop Timon, which they introduced in 2024, beyond the Nigerian market.

A movement issue that required an option

Ayorinde’s concept for Timon originated from a London currency exchange store throughout a UK journey. He had actually gone there to alter money into pounds when he saw a senior guy being provided a travel card. Curious, he asked why the male might not utilize his routine bank card. The attendant discussed that the card let tourists hold various currencies and exchange cash before a journey, preventing duplicated conversion costs.

It planted the idea that cards might be provided for a particular function outside standard banks.

“So I would state that taking a trip provides you much better concepts,” Ayorinde stated. “You see how individuals live their lives extremely in a different way from what you’re utilized to. It likewise stimulates discussions and concepts.”

He and Ucheaga had actually fulfilled in 2021 through an entrepreneurship program at their church. According to Ucheaga, he was the very first individual Ayorinde called after offering PayForce. They asked more than 20 individuals whether they still had a hard time to pay when taking a trip abroad. Lots of stated yes. Ucheaga stated Timon links straight to Visa, the payments huge and card releasing network, instead of leaning on bank facilities, a procedure that took more than 15 months with Visa and a bank.

They introduced Timon in September 2024. By the 2nd quarter of 2026, it had actually processed more than $47 million in deals and crossed 100,000 users throughout 16 African markets, Ayorinde informed Disrupt AfricaThe start-up makes profits through deal and service charge, in addition to revenue-sharing contracts with partners.

2 creators, one visa

In July 2026, Timon protected a concealed financial investment from Alliance, a US-based crypto accelerator. According to Ucheaga, the creators had actually used unsuccessfully two times and almost deserted their 3rd effort up until an Alliance creator personally motivated them to use once again.

They were accepted within hours of the interview. Alliance finished its due diligence and wired the cash within 2 weeks, Ucheaga stated.

“They move quickly,” Ucheaga stated of United States financiers. “They have a conviction. They move quickly due to the fact that they will not lose this huge chance. It’s nearly like they can see into the future.”

Came the visa restriction, as Ayorinde dealt with in 2016. Ucheaga might not participate in the in-person sessions from Alliance in the United States.

“I could not opt for the journey since my own B2 visa had actually ended years earlier,” he stated. “Sadly, I didn’t have the insight like Tomi did to hurry when Trump was can be found in to get his own, so I could not make it. There were some online sessions, so I had the ability to sign up with that, and it was useful getting creators who Alliance moneyed previously, who constructed excellent things, gaining from them too.”

Visa constraints stay a wider challenge to African movement. According to the African Development Bank’s 2025 Africa Visa Openness IndexAfrican visitors still required visas ahead of time for 51.1% of possible country-to-country travel mixes within the continent, up from 47.1% in 2024.

The expense of taking a trip is not restricted to flights, lodging, and forex (FX) charges. Hold-ups or constraints on entry can likewise figure out which expert chances a tourist can pursue personally.

Ayorinde and Ucheaga have actually constructed a service that assists Africans invest cash abroad. The Alliance experience revealed the limitations of what they might resolve. Both creators had actually protected a location in the accelerator. Just one might make the journey.

Real scale needs moving beyond surface-level combinations to robust execution. We’ve filtered the sound out of Moonshot 2026, optimising the conference strictly for high-calibre connections in between start-up creators, international monetary operators, business leaders and people rewiring Africa’s technical structures. Get 20% off Early Bird tickets for a minimal time