Traders of Africa (TofA)
“Can a B2B commodity marketplace become the trade-finance and payments rail for intra-African trade?”
Founded2017
HQLagos, Nigeria
FoundersUju Uzo-Ojinnaka
IndustryMarketplace / B2B Trade
The story
TofA started as a Pan-African B2B trade facilitation marketplace connecting African producers, cooperatives and exporters to global buyers across commodity value chains (cashew, sesame, cocoa, shea, soya, maize, wheat). It has since layered an embedded finance thesis on top of the marketplace: TOFAPAY provides embedded trade finance and instant supplier payments, positioning TofA as trade infrastructure rather than a pure marketplace. The 2024 partnership with MTN MoMo PSB signals a mobile-money-native settlement approach appropriate for African SMB counterparties.
Product timeline
2017
TOFA founded in Lagos as a Pan-African B2B trade facilitation company (Tofadotcom Limited).· launch
2023
Marketplase (SourcePro) B2B sourcing platform terms of use updated; platform supports multi-currency listings (EUR, GBP, GHS, NGN, USD, XOF).· product
2024
Announced partnership with AliExpress and MTN MoMo PSB for cross-border commerce and mobile-money payments.· partnership
The stack
2 layers disclosed in Traders of Africa (TofA)’s embedded-finance stack
Payments / PSP
TOFAPAY (self-operated)MTN MoMo PSB
Lending
in the full report
Accounting gap: significant
1 more provider across 1 layer, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.