For the average Nigerian merchant, sourcing goods from China or the United States is less about logistics and more about the nightmare of currency. With the Naira’s volatility and the scarcity of foreign exchange (FX) in traditional banking halls, paying a supplier in Shenzhen or Dubai often involves a complex web of black-market dealers, exorbitant fees, and anxiety-inducing delays.
Clea, a fintech startup that has been operating in stealth, officially launched today with a promise to bypass those banking bottlenecks.
The premise is straightforward: allow African importers to pay in their local currency (Naira) while the international supplier receives US Dollars (USD). The “rails” moving this money, however, aren’t the sluggish SWIFT network, but blockchain technology.
The Mechanism: Speed vs. The Banking Void
During its pilot phase, Clea says it processed over USD 4 million in transaction volume. While that figure is modest compared to the giants of the industry, it serves as a proof of concept for a specific problem: the USD 120 billion trade-finance gap in Africa.
Traditional banks are often risk-averse or simply liquidity-constrained, making it difficult for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to access the dollars they need to restock inventory.
Clea’s platform steps into this void by acting as a liquidity bridge.
- For the Importer: They pay Naira directly to Clea.
- The Process: Clea uses blockchain infrastructure (typically leveraging stablecoins in these scenarios to move value instantly across borders without the friction of correspondent banking) to convert and settle the payment.
- For the Supplier: They receive USD, often on the same day or the next day.
This contrasts sharply with the traditional banking route, which can take days or weeks—if the FX request is approved at all.
The Founders and the Strategy
The startup was founded by Sheriff Adedokun (CEO), Iyiola Osuagwu (CTO), and Sidney Egwuatu (COO). The trio claims the product was born from personal frustration—essentially the classic “scratch your own itch” origin story—after dealing with the unreliability of international payments themselves.
“Importers face unnecessary stress when payments are delayed or rejected,” says CEO Sheriff Adedokun. “Clea eliminates that uncertainty by offering reliable, secure, and traceable payments completed in the importer’s own name.”
That last point—”in the importer’s own name”—is a crucial detail. Often, when using third-party intermediaries or informal brokers, payments arrive at a supplier from unknown third-party accounts, which can trigger compliance red flags and freeze shipments. Clea aims to legitimise these flows.
Currently, the platform facilitates payments to three major trade corridors:
- The United States
- China
- The UAE
Bootstrapped and Embedding into Logistics
Unlike many fintechs that launch with a splashy funding announcement, Clea remains fully bootstrapped. They are, however, signalling openness to strategic investors.
Their growth strategy seems to rely heavily on “embedded” distribution. Rather than just marketing to random shop owners, Clea is integrating with shipping operators and logistics networks. These operators refer merchants to Clea, effectively solving the payment problem at the point of shipping.
“Our goal is to make global trade feel as seamless as a local transfer,” says CTO Iyiola Osuagwu.
The Reality Check
While the technology sounds promising, Clea is entering a crowded and complex arena. The African cross-border payment space is becoming increasingly competitive, with established players and other crypto-native upstarts vying for the same market share.
Furthermore, any business relying on FX arbitrage or cross-border settlements in Nigeria must navigate a volatile regulatory environment where Central Bank policies can shift overnight.
However, for the importer whose container is stuck at a port because a wire transfer didn’t clear, the backend technology matters less than the result. If Clea can maintain liquidity and keep fees lower than the parallel market, they likely have a captive audience.
COO Sidney Egwuatu says the immediate focus is scaling across all 36 Nigerian states before eyeing broader pan-African expansion.
