Nigeria’s oldest indigenous bank joins Duplo to digitise business finance

Duplo, an African financial operations and payments platform, has partnered with Wema Bank, Nigeria’s oldest indigenous bank, in a move that highlights the growing collaboration between traditional lenders and fintech firms to simplify business payments, improve operational efficiency, and help small businesses scale.

The partnership, announced on Monday in Lagos, combines the Bank’s banking infrastructure with Duplo’s financial operations technology to enable seamless financial management for businesses through the ALAT by Wema platform.

Under the collaboration, businesses will gain access to Duplo’s financial operations platform, enabling them to automate payments, manage expenses and approvals, generate and collect invoices, reconcile transactions, and streamline end-to-end financial workflows within a single, integrated ecosystem.

The companies said the initiative is designed to eliminate operational bottlenecks that continue to slow many Nigerian businesses while expanding access to digital financial tools across Africa’s most populous nation.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Yele Oyekola, co-founder and CEO of Duplo, said the collaboration reflects a shared commitment to equipping Nigerian businesses with financial tools that match their growth ambitions.

“Today is not simply about signing a partnership agreement. It is about bringing together two organisations with a shared belief that Nigerian businesses deserve financial tools that are as ambitious and capable as the businesses themselves,” he said.

Oyekola said many businesses still rely on fragmented and manual financial processes that consume valuable time and hinder productivity.

“Finance teams spend countless hours chasing approvals, reconciling transactions and switching between disconnected systems. These are more than operational challenges—they slow decision-making, weaken financial controls and prevent businesses from focusing on growth,” he said.

The integrated solution will initially be rolled out to a select group of Wema Bank’s business customers before being made available to a wider customer base.

Tunde Mabawonku, executive director of finance & digital optimization at Wema Bank, said the collaboration aligns with the lender’s long-standing mission of supporting indigenous businesses through innovation.

Reflecting on the bank’s more than 80-year history, Mabawonku said Wema was founded to provide banking solutions tailored to Nigerian entrepreneurs and has continued to evolve by embracing technology and strategic partnerships.

“We are bankers at heart, but we recognise that the best way to create lasting value is through collaboration,” he said. “Technology only matters when it solves real problems, and this collaboration allows us to combine Wema’s trusted banking infrastructure with Duplo’s specialised capabilities to deliver better outcomes for businesses.”

He added that small and medium-sized enterprises remain the backbone of Nigeria’s economy and require modern digital tools to improve productivity, strengthen governance and accelerate growth.

During a product demonstration, Remi Ogunsanya, head of product at Duplo, said the platform was built to address one of the biggest challenges facing SMEs—limited visibility into their finances.

According to her, the solution enables businesses to automate approval workflows, manage expenses, generate virtual accounts, reconcile transactions and comply with electronic invoicing requirements through a single dashboard.

“Many businesses struggle to track where their money goes because they rely on manual processes and multiple systems,” Ogunsanya said. “Our platform gives finance teams greater visibility and control while helping them save time, improve compliance and make better financial decisions.”

She added that the integration with Wema Bank enables businesses to initiate and complete secure payments directly within the platform, eliminating the need to switch between multiple applications to execute transactions.