For eight years, Teddy Kossoko attempted to solve one of the most persistent bottlenecks in Francophone Africa’s digital economy: getting consumers to pay for digital content.
His France, Senegal and Central African Republic-based platform, Gara, secured backing from Digital Africa, Bpifrance, and the European Union. Yet despite steady traffic across its video game and digital comic catalog, conversion rates hovered at just 12 per cent. The barrier was not a lack of interest in the media, but the transactional friction and irregular cash flows inherent to mobile money users operating in the informal economy.
That structural constraint prompted Kossoko to revisit an idea he had shelved in 2018: digitising the tontine, the traditional rotating savings and credit association (Rosca) relied upon by millions across Sub-Saharan Africa.
In March 2026, Gara launched Paykko in Benin. Within six months, the application recorded more than 100,000 downloads, 54,000 registered users, and collected over 100m FCFA (€152,400) in deposits.
Inverting the tontine model
Previous attempts by African technology startups to digitise Roscas frequently struggled because they required pre-existing, fully formed social groups to onboard simultaneously. Paykko inverted the approach. Instead of forcing users directly into collective arrangements, the platform allows individuals to save independently starting from 500 FCFA (€0.76).
The software applies the behavioural discipline of the traditional tontine — fixed target amounts, structured cycles, defined deadlines, and automated reminders — to individual accounts. Once a saver establishes a consistent record, Paykko generates a trust score designed to unlock entry into higher-value group tontines (up to 1m FCFA per cycle) and formal microfinance loans.
“We realised that requiring pre-formed groups was a structural barrier,” said Kossoko, chief executive of Gara. “Individual savings had to be the entry point to build habits first. That discipline creates a behavioural score, which then establishes the credibility required for collective pools and formal credit.”
Micro-deposits and informal cash flows
The data reflects an appetite for structured solo savings. Individual deposits account for 94 per cent of total volume on the platform, according to the company. The average transaction stands at approximately 1,600 FCFA (€2.44), matching the thin, irregular liquidity typical of informal traders and workers.
Deposit frequencies mirror these income patterns: 58 per cent of active savers contribute weekly, 22 per cent daily, and 19 per cent monthly. Re-engagement is notable, with 63 per cent of depositors making multiple contributions, the company added.
Navigating the trust deficit
Paykko selected Benin as its first market in March 2026, citing a population of 15 million, a pool of skilled software engineers and quality schools, good internet penetration, an established savings culture, and a government willing to attract investment. However, the rollout highlighted consumer skepticism driven by historical financial scams and unbacked investment schemes across West Africa.
Currently, roughly 14 per cent of registered app users have converted into active depositors — a gap Gara attributes to initial hesitancy to transfer cash to a digital entity. To address this, the company established field teams, moderated WhatsApp community groups, and instituted 24/7 customer support modelled on regional fintech operator Wave.
Regional expansion and diaspora targets
Without dedicated marketing campaigns outside Benin, Paykko has drawn organic users across eight other West and Central African markets, including Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Togo, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, and Gabon.
To capitalise on this footprint, Gara is raising a €1.5m funding round from European and African venture capital funds. The capital is earmarked to consolidate its presence in Benin and expand operations across the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) and Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) zones.
In addition to its consumer product, the company is rolling out “Paykko Platform,” an application programming interface (API) designed to allow telecoms operators, super-apps, non-governmental organisations, and microfinance institutions to integrate micro-savings features into their own software.
Over the medium term, Gara plans to target cross-border liquidity by digitising tontines for the African diaspora in Europe — an addressable market it estimates at $1bn (€890m). The company says it has submitted a regulatory license application in France to operate payment services within the European Union.