He plans to become the banker of the African unbanked population. To achieve his ambition, his idea is to combine mobile money services, which are popular on the continent, with international financial tools. 

Roger Nengwe Ntafam (photo)  is a Cameroonian artificial intelligence engineer and the co-founder of fintech PaySika. The startup he co-founded in February 2020, with Stezen Bisselou facilitates money transfers through a mobile app that can be loaded with mobile money. It also allows users to manage their money in real-time from Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and  Telegram and offers requesters free virtual cards for international or online transactions. 

The entrepreneur explains that he got the inspiration for this payment solution from the tribulations his father, a shop owner, used to go through for stocktaking, accounting, and petty cash management.  The main thing that pushed him to create the solution was the challenge he faced while trying to pay his tuition fees during his engineering studies at Paul Sabatier University, Toulouse, France. At the time, he did not have a bank account, and paying those tuition fees was a real challenge for him. 

The startup claims over 20,000 users were registered on its waitlist during the pre-launch phase. In October 2021, it raised US$300,000 from British, French, and Nigerian investors to launch activities (in the first quarter of 2022). Its current target markets are Cameroon and Gabon. 

Roger's professional and entrepreneurial journey began after a brief stint in the oil industry, working as an assistant operator for Exxon Mobile. 

Before starting the PaySika adventure, Roger Nengwe Ntafam sharpened his entrepreneurial skills with MyMoney, which he co-founded in 2019. The startup created a chatbot that allows users to easily manage their finances.  

But even before that venture, he developed many skills, in financial technology notably, with several research centers such as the North-East Midi-Pyrénées Multidisciplinary Research Laboratory (LRPmip) and the Artificial Intelligence Center in Prague, Czech Republic.

He also participated in various entrepreneurial support and tech innovation programs such as the first cohort of French Tech Tremplin, a high-impact entrepreneurial coaching program, in 2019. In March 2022, he joined the Founder Institute's Entrepreneur in Residence program. 

Melchior Koba