• Lova Diakité founded Joonapay in 2023 to centralize financial management for SMEs and large corporations across the UEMOA region.
• The platform automates manual tasks by integrating invoicing, supplier payments, and real-time expense tracking into a single interface.
• Joonapay supports diverse payment methods including bank transfers, credit cards, and mobile money, with plans to launch physical and virtual corporate cards.

Malian tech entrepreneur Lova Diakité leads this shift from his base in Côte d’Ivoire. Diakité serves as the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Joonapay. This financial platform specifically serves the needs of businesses operating within Francophone West Africa.

Diakité established Joonapay in 2023 to simplify daily corporate operations. The platform offers a comprehensive suite of tools through a unified digital interface. The solution currently assists small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) throughout the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA). Furthermore, large financial departments utilize the platform to manage complex regional requirements.

The software centralizes several essential financial services for its users. Clients create professional invoices and receive customer payments directly through the system. The platform also enables users to settle supplier invoices and track corporate cash flow. Additionally, Joonapay supports multiple payment channels including bank transfers, credit cards, and mobile money services.

Joonapay prioritizes the automation of repetitive financial duties. Many regional firms still perform these tasks manually, which increases the risk of error. The platform simplifies internal validation processes and provides real-time oversight of professional spending. Teams use the system to centralize receipts and manage expense justifications efficiently. Meanwhile, the company prepares the upcoming launch of both virtual and physical corporate cards for employee expenses.

Diakité brings significant international experience to the West African fintech sector. He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from West Chester University of Pennsylvania in the United States. He launched his professional career in 2015 within the university’s IT support department.

His career progressed through several specialized technical roles in the American market. Diakité joined Edu-Tech Academic Solutions as a support engineer in 2018. He then managed systems and networks for The Baldwin School starting in 2020. US-based healthtech firm Hinge Health recruited him as an IT specialist in 2023. Finally, Diakité served as a systems engineer for Camunda, a German company specializing in business process automation, before focusing on his current venture.

This article was initially published in French by Melchior Koba

Adapted in English by Ange J.A de Berry Quenum