Money Fellows took an old savings habit and built a business the hard way
Money Fellows built its model around digitising an old saving habit in Egypt.
Ahmed Wadi started Money Fellows in 2016, recognizing the potential of an existing savings habit in Egypt, called gameya. This informal system involved pooling money, taking turns collecting it, and relying on social obligation to ensure timely payments. Despite not relying on venture capital funding, Money Fellows took ten years to digitize this habit and expand beyond Egypt to Morocco.
The company's growth has been slow, focusing on understanding and perfecting the model in Egypt before venturing into other markets. One of the main challenges was the lack of trust, regulation, and payment channels in a digital setting, as participants typically know each other in the old system. To address this, Money Fellows developed a framework with regulators and assessed participants' ability to pay, covering missed contributions to ensure smooth payouts.
Building a business on this model required overcoming significant obstacles, including convincing investors of its viability without established benchmarks or success stories. Despite these challenges, the company raised $4 million in 2020 and $31 million in 2022, enabling expansion across Africa.
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