Benjamin Fernandes

Founder Nala 

Benjamin Fernandes is a Tanzanian technology entrepreneur and the founder of NALA —a cross-border money transfer service to reduce the costs of sending money from the diaspora to East Africa, starting with the UK. NALA is backed by leading US Venture Capital firms including Y-Combinator, Accel Partners and DST Global.

Previously, Mr. Fernandes worked at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, before moving back home to start NALA – where they initially built a personal finance app that scaled to over 250,000 customers in Tanzania and Uganda, enabling them to manage their funds and make digital payments with no need for an internet connection.

Mr. Fernandes holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business and an Exec Ed. from Harvard Kennedy School of Government.