She trained in programming to understand how it works, then committed herself to creating practical solutions to make digital services more accessible to African users.

Mandisa Mjamba (photo), a South African entrepreneur and software engineer, is the co-founder of Paie, a startup developing a digital wallet for African users within the Web3 ecosystem.

Founded in 2022, Paie enables the storage, management, and transfer of digital assets, such as stablecoins. It also provides access to decentralized applications (dApps), decentralized finance (DeFi) services, and NFT marketplaces. The app positions itself as a tool for financial inclusion in Africa, offering an alternative to local currencies.

Paie operates as a Web3 wallet, serving as both a digital vault and an identity within the decentralized ecosystem. It allows for blockchain-based transactions without bank intermediaries, while giving users full control over their private keys. Security features like two-factor authentication, SSL encryption, and session management are integrated to protect user assets.

Before launching Paie, Mandisa Mjamba founded Vula Nova in 2019, serving as CEO until 2023. Vula Nova is a South African, women-led software development company. She also co-founded Stulo, where she was CTO until 2022, and Indoni Developers, a community of female software developers in South Africa.

Mjamba graduated in 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Nelson Mandela University. She began her career the same year as a developer analyst at Munich Re, an insurance firm, and continued in a similar role at financial services company Sanlam in 2016.

She later joined fintech firm Yoco as a software engineer. In 2019, she became Executive Director at Relay Africa, a Zimbabwean tech company developing digital solutions for the health sector across Africa.

Written in French by Melchior Koba,

Translated and adapted into English by Mouka Mezonlin