*Daniel Byiringiro (content and social media) Philip Mburu (CEO) and Pascal Okoli (crypto educator at Hurupay Academy)*

Hurupay, a crypto payment startup, is building a business-friendly crypto wallet allowing users to accept stablecoins as payment. Stablecoins — the tokens pegged to fiat currencies like the U.S. dollars and run on blockchain — are attracting consumers and business owners on the continent on the back of devaluation of local currencies.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Africa are finding it hard to do business with local currencies that are losing value against the dollar. In most countries, hoarding dollars has added to the acute depreciation of local currencies.

Accessing a dollar account to hedge against inflation is not easy for these small businesses.

“For you to access the dollar, for example, you have to open a bank account, have an initial deposit, and it’s a hassle for many,” Philip Mburu the co-founder and CEO told NODO News.

James Mugambi, the operations and finance lead of Harupay, said that traders are already feeling the pinch of the depreciation of local currencies. In a bid to stem the tide, traders increase their prices and eventually may drive consumers away.

“They are starting to notice that local currencies are creating pressure on them. And I think that’s the clearest sign that most of them are trying to find solutions. That’s why we are now building Hurupay,” he noted.

The company, which began in 2022, has onboarded around 300 businesses onto their platform in Ghana and Kenya as most SMEs warm up to the idea of adopting stablecoins.

How Hurupay Works

The product works by offering SMEs intuitive applications such as bookkeeping with consumer features including remittance and payment. The app has an option for SMEs to accept payments in stablecoins. Hurupay currently offers the Celo Dollar (CUSD) on its platform.

Consumers on the platform can see goods on sale and which merchants accept payments in stablecoins. If consumers want to use stablecoins in their transactions, they can use mobile money to buy stablecoins and complete transactions.

Hurupay will then be responsible for on-ramping and off-ramping the crypto into local currencies on behalf of the businesses. SMEs on the app can use their phone numbers are wallet addresses, making it even easier for transactions.

The startup is also seeking to add analytics services and even credit financing for these SMEs.

“It’s hard for African SMEs to get loans, especially because much of the bookkeeping is not done digitally. Through the bookkeeping feature, they are able to use it as proof for them to access credit,” Mburu explained.

Hurupay is planning to expand its market reach and onboard 10,000 SMEs to discover the power of stablecoins.

-Edited by Shigeru Sato, Faustine Ngila