Ovaloop Taps Fidelity Bank to Tackle Nigerian Retail Payment Diversion

Nigerian retail technology firm Ovaloop has partnered with Fidelity Bank to launch "Pay Protect," a payment protection system designed to stop employees from diverting customer funds into unauthorized bank accounts and point-of-sale terminals.

Internal payment diversion is a persistent form of shrinkage for African retailers. Because transactions frequently occur across a mix of cash and digital transfers, sales personnel can easily pocket digital payments by presenting their own personal accounts or mobile POS devices to unsuspecting customers. The retailer delivers the goods but loses the revenue, a problem that costs businesses millions of naira annually.

Pay Protect addresses this by embedding stronger financial controls directly into the merchant's workflow. The partnership with Fidelity Bank provides the regulated payment rails necessary to ensure every completed sale is reconciled accurately. For the broader market, this type of embedded fraud prevention is crucial for formalizing Nigeria's vast informal retail sector and making small merchants more bankable.

The Fidelity Bank deal bolsters a platform that has scaled without external venture capital. Co-founded by CEO Princewill Mba and CTO Daniel Kilanko, Ovaloop has been funded through customer revenue rather than investor capital. The company currently supports businesses processing an average of ₦4.5 billion in transactions every month, a volume that demonstrates strong product-market fit.

Rather than adapting Western software, Ovaloop built its integrated operating system for local conditions. The platform combines inventory, sales, reporting, and customer records into a single application designed to withstand unreliable internet connectivity and serve merchants who lack technical expertise.

To expand its utility, Ovaloop has also partnered with Nexmart to integrate e-commerce capabilities. This allows physical retailers to list products online while managing those orders, inventory, and payments through the same central dashboard.

Ovaloop is now positioning itself to serve more than 100,000 retailers across Nigeria and eventually Africa. For market participants, the company's growth trajectory highlights a viable investment thesis in emerging markets: homegrown, capital-efficient technology companies solving structural operational bottlenecks rather than chasing imported business models.