The word “Zap” is a bit controversial in Nigeria’s tech ecosystem. It sparked a naming dispute after one of Nigeria’s foremost fintech companies, Paystack, launched its first B2C payment product and called it Zap.
However, Zap Africa — a crypto startup founded in 2022 — had already been operating under that name. In a bid to distinguish itself, the company posted on X, “There is only one Zap in Africa.” The post kicked off what many described as a trademark war.
Initial information shared with Techpoint Africa revealed that Zap Africa had not trademarked the name in the correct class. Interestingly, the company secured certification in the appropriate class just a day after the story was published, according to documents seen by Techpoint Africa.
Beyond the naming controversy, co-founders Tobiloba Asu-Johnson and Moore Dagogo-Hart are far more focused on what they’re building at Zap Africa. While the trademark clash gave them some visibility — it’s how I first heard about them — the founders revealed in a call with Techpoint Africa that the publicity wasn’t entirely positive. In fact, Zap Africa was already seeing impressive growth before the episode.
Building Zap Africa
The global crypto industry has had its ups and downs — but since 2021, it’s mostly been downs. From $600 million hacks to scam platforms like CEBEX running off with over $6 million of people’s money, crypto users and the broader market have endured repeated shocks.
But no moment was as devastating as the collapse of FTX. For Asu-Johnson, it marked a turning point.
“When FTX happened, people were confused, people lost money,” he said. “It made us realise there’s a trust problem. If we’re going to build something in crypto, it has to be safe, easy to use, and transparent.”
With safety and transparency in mind, Asu-Johnson and Dagogo-Hart set out to build a product that sits at the intersection of centralised and decentralised exchanges.
At the heart of that decision lies a core tension in crypto: freedom versus simplicity. Decentralised platforms like Uniswap and MetaMask offer complete control — no middlemen, no custodians, just you and your wallet. But with that freedom comes complexity: seed phrases, gas fees, long wallet addresses, and interfaces more suited to developers than everyday users.
“Decentralised platforms are great,” Asu-Johnson admitted, “but most people don’t even understand what they’re looking at.”
On the other hand, centralised platforms like Binance and Coinbase simplify everything, offering smooth user experiences at the cost of control. The platform stores users’ funds, and in worst-case scenarios — like FTX — they can disappear overnight.
Zap Africa’s mission became clear: create something that offers the ease of a centralised exchange without sacrificing the transparency and freedom that define Web3.
Finding product–market fit
While Zap Africa aims to strike a balance between two opposing crypto worlds, its early adopters are mostly hardcore Web3 users. This niche audience helped the startup build credibility and gain traction during its first few months.
Since launching in 2022, Zap Africa has processed over $17 million in crypto transactions and now generates up to $100,000 in monthly revenue. The platform has also grown its customer base to over 50,000 users — mostly through word of mouth.
“It’s just people telling other people about the product. We’ve really slowed down on marketing in the past few months,” Asu-Johnson said.
Dagogo-Hart added that weekly transactions on the platform currently average around $500,000, which enables the company to reach its $ 100,000 monthly revenue target. While he maintains that Zap Africa can sustain itself without outside capital, they are open to raising funds in order to scale faster.
Before Zap Africa
Asu-Johnson and Dagogo-Hart’s backgrounds primed them for entrepreneurship. For Dagogo-Hart, who leads the technical arm of the business, Zap Africa isn’t his first product.
A computer engineering graduate from the University of Lagos, he built a mobile game called Colour Match in 2020, when he was just 20 years old.
“The game did very well. It was number two on the Play Store and number four on Apple Store,” he recalled.
His entry into finance came via a stint at Goldman Sachs, where he saw firsthand how technology could improve financial systems. Just a month into the role, he resigned to start building blockchain-powered products — Solar Soft and Nebula. Unfortunately, those ideas never reached the market.
Asu-Johnson studied computer science at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, where he first encountered people deeply involved in crypto and blockchain.
That exposure sparked his interest in the space. He later founded a real estate company, Homzes Property, but it was his Master’s in Business Management from Manchester Metropolitan University, UK, that truly prepared him for startup life.
“I got to really learn about the intricacies of things that go on in a business.”
However, no degree could prepare them for the real-world challenges of building Zap Africa. While regulatory uncertainty is a common obstacle for crypto founders, both founders say their biggest headache has been hiring people with the right soft skills.
“You can teach the technical stuff, but soft skills can’t be taught,” Asu-Johnson said. “Your attitude, your manners, and how you treat people.”
Dagogo-Hart added that managing oneself as a founder is just as important as managing a team.
According to him, getting Zap Africa’s “30-man team” to deliver requires self-awareness and emotional intelligence. “Pay attention to yourself, your emotions, and how you react to things,” he advised.
The trademark controversy with Paystack became a crash course in emotional management. While they insist they wouldn’t have handled it differently, they admit lessons were learnt.
“My advice to founders is to trademark your stuff immediately,” Dagogo-Hart said. “Also, get good lawyers early.”
Competition and the future
Zap Africa’s founders don’t spend much time thinking about competition. Dagogo-Hart’s philosophy, inspired by Peter Thiel, is that “competition is for losers.”
“If you really understand what you are doing and you know the unique value of what you’re building, then it cannot be repeated,” he said.
Asu-Johnson echoed this sentiment, arguing that the crypto market is broad enough for multiple players to succeed. The abundance of unresolved problems means there’s room for companies to carve out their unique selling points.
Zap Africa’s approach is to serve both ends of the crypto adoption spectrum: core Web3 users and crypto-curious customers.
This dual-focus strategy is similar to that of Onboard, a platform offering users the freedom of non-custodial wallets while enabling various payment services.
Still, scaling will mean competing more directly with other players — at least in product features. Zap Africa, for instance, plans to launch a crypto payment card, a feature already offered by newer platforms like Cardex.
But for Asu-Johnson and Dagogo-Hart, the long-term vision goes beyond crypto.
“We’re building a new financial layer for Africa,” Dagogo-Hart said, “one where crypto and fiat systems integrate seamlessly while keeping the major characteristics of both — the decentralisation and freedom of crypto, and the security and trust of fiat.”
