African Creators Deserve Better: How I Built a Payment Gateway for Every Corner of the Continent

The Problem We Were Actually Solving

We were building a platform for digital creators across Africa, a region with a diverse array of economic conditions, exchange rates, and financial systems. The challenge was to establish a payment gateway that would work seamlessly across the continent, regardless of the creator's location. It was clear that the existing solutions - PayPal, Stripe, Gumroad, and Payhip - wouldn't cut it.

What We Tried First (And Why It Failed)

Initially, we thought we could bypass the problem by using a combination of Stripe and PayPal's services. We set up a Stripe account and connected it to our existing PayPal account, thinking this would allow us to tap into both their networks. However, Stripe's support for PayPal was limited, and we encountered issues with cross-border transactions. We also hit a roadblock when trying to integrate PayPal's API with our payment processing setup, as their documentation for African markets was woefully inadequate.

The Architecture Decision