FigureAsia 35 Under 35 · Finance
Benjamin Fernandes
Age 33 · Cross-border payments and remittances · Tanzania
A Tanzanian founder building consumer remittance and enterprise settlement rails for emerging markets.
- Age at the edition eligibility date
- 33
- Field
- Finance
- Country or region
- Tanzania
- FigureAsia U35 Assessment
- 86.0 / 100
Profile
Career and documented record
Benjamin Fernandes has built NALA around the operational failures of cross-border payments into emerging markets: high costs, weak local connectivity and uncertain delivery. In June 2025 he released NALA 3.0, a ground-up rebuild of the consumer application that put accounts, exchange-rate comparison and repeat transfers at the centre of the product. He reported that transaction volume had increased 120-fold since January 2022; an independent company review later recorded that NALA's users had nearly doubled to 980,000 during 2025.
The more consequential shift was from a remittance application to payment infrastructure. Rafiki, NALA's business platform, launched in 2025 and generated a reported $2.5 million in its first year. In April 2026 NALA and MoneyGram announced that Rafiki would provide stablecoin settlement and local payout access across emerging markets in Africa and Asia. The work combines regulated distribution, local bank and mobile-money connections, treasury and foreign-exchange execution rather than treating a digital token as the finished product.
FigureAsia selection
Why Benjamin Fernandes is on the list
FigureAsia selected Fernandes because the record shows a founder moving from consumer transfers to an operating settlement layer. He personally articulated and led the consumer rebuild, while NALA's enterprise product progressed from launch revenue in 2025 to a named global payments customer in 2026. That sequence supplies completed work, commercial use and a clear chain of agency.
The assessment distinguishes reported throughput from verified impact. NALA is private, and cumulative volume, user growth and transfer-speed measures are not equivalent to audited public disclosures. Cross-border payment providers also carry substantial licensing, safeguarding, sanctions and liquidity obligations. Fernandes is recognised for building practical rails across difficult corridors; the durability, economics and control environment of those rails require continuing scrutiny.
Verified work
The 2025–26 record
NALA 3.0 consumer platform released
Fernandes published and delivered a ground-up product rebuild centred on accounts, transparent rate comparison, faster repeat payments, searchable records and improved application performance.
MoneyGram adopted NALA settlement infrastructure
NALA and MoneyGram announced a stablecoin settlement and local-payout partnership using Rafiki to support faster cross-border flows into emerging markets across Africa and Asia.
Field context
The work in its field
Cross-border payments into Africa and Asia remain fragmented across correspondent banks, mobile-money networks, local switches and foreign-exchange providers. Reliability depends on direct connections and regulated local distribution as much as on the interface through which a customer initiates a transfer.
Stablecoins can shorten settlement and reduce pre-funded balances, but they do not remove compliance, conversion or last-mile obligations. The decisive infrastructure is the licensed network that converts and delivers funds safely in local markets.
FigureAsia U35 Assessment
Assessment breakdown
86.0out of 100
Completed financial consequence
27 / 30
NALA 3.0 consumer platform released is treated as a delivered financial outcome. The score is confined to the completed result described in the record and excludes projections or paper valuation.
Individual agency and execution
22 / 25
The documented role—Founder and Chief Executive—and the attributed actions in the profile establish accountable execution. Institution-wide results are not assigned to the person alone.
Verified reach and significance
17 / 20
Cross-border payments into Africa and Asia remain fragmented across correspondent banks, mobile-money networks, local switches and foreign-exchange providers. Reliability depends on direct connections and regulated local distribution as much as on the interface through which a customer initiates a transfer.
Innovation and field influence
12 / 15
The record combines cross-border payments and remittances with the completed work described in MoneyGram adopted NALA settlement infrastructure. Credit reflects demonstrated practice, not a claim of novelty by itself.
Stewardship, access and Asian relevance
8 / 10
The Asian connection is explicit: A fourth-generation Tanzanian of Goan Indian descent who describes himself as Indian East African; his payment networks connect diasporas and businesses across Africa and Asia. Stewardship credit is limited to the regulatory, governance, access or stakeholder evidence described in the profile.