DireTube Founder Sets Sights on Lucrative Fintech Market with FenanPay Payment Gateway

BitNet Tech Solutions, a local IT firm co-founded by the founder of DireTube, an Ethiopian media and entertainment website, is gearing to venture into the fintech sector with the launch of FenanPay, an online payment gateway.

FenanPay aims to serve as a platform that helps Ethiopian businesses to sell their products and services online and accept payments from customers. Key features highlighted by FenanPay include a comprehensive dashboard, a user-friendly interface, the ability to manage multiple businesses on a single account, and a scalable platform capable of accepting international payments.

In terms of transaction fees within Ethiopia, FenanPay implements a flexible structure ranging from 0% to 2%.

“We are reducing transaction fees and introducing a zero percent conditional transaction fee, dependent on the transaction amount of merchants,” stated Biniam Negessu, Managing Director and Founder of FenanPay.

Biniam launched Dire Tube, an entertainment news pioneer in Ethiopia in 2008. Biniam teamed up with around a dozen shareholders to set up FenanPay with a capital of 5 million birr.

In addition to DireTube, Biniam is engaged in betting industry as well as the ecommerce space.  However, FenanPay has not yet secured a license from the National Bank of Ethiopia to operate as a payment gateway and is in the process of acquiring it.

“We are expecting to receive the license in April 2024,” Biniam told Shega.