Episode 5: B2B E-commerce to Fintech
How Chari is Charting a Path to Profitability
By the time I recorded with Ismael Belkhayat, Founder and CEO of Chari, I didn’t think there were many more “aha” moments to be had about the B2B e-commerce model. I was wrong.
In the previous episode, Firas Ahmad, Founder and CEO of Sarafu, explained how little to no margin could be made in supplying commodities to informal retailers and how he built a financially sustainable business by selling branded products, courting premium customers, and building an ecosystem that integrates e-commerce, payments and logistics.
In this conversation, Ismael offers another layer of insight by sharing how he turned to embedded finance during the search for a profitable business model for Chari. While combining fintech and digital commerce makes strategic and operational sense, I wasn’t prepared to hear that Chari (which I’d categorized as a digital commerce business) was effectively moving into Moniepoint territory.
Anyway, here are the biggest take-aways from our conversation:
🚂 1. E-commerce is the trojan horse of customer acquisition—fintech is the profit engine.
Chari didn’t set out to become a fintech. But as Ismael put it, B2B e-commerce alone wasn't sustainable due to razor-thin margins. So, they flipped the model, and took a page from the super app playbook. They secured a banking license, built proprietary core banking infrastructure, and began thinking about how to layer on services like mobile top-ups, bill payments, insurance, and remittances.
“E-commerce is customer acquisition; fintech is monetization.”
🧱 2. Full-stack integration is a moat.
Rather than rely on third-party banking infrastructure (i.e., Banking as a Service), Chari built everything in-house—a core banking system that includes a connection to the local switch, SWIFT integration, and card management. Why? Because no local bank would provide what they needed. It was a massive lift—but today it gives them full control over costs, product design, and margins.
“We don’t share revenue with anyone. We lowered our OPEX, and we own the rails.”
🌍 3. Go deep before going wide (reloaded).
Sidy Niang and Jessica Long, Co-founders of Maad, talked about going to scale in Senegal in Episode 4. Notably, Chari expanded to Côte d’Ivoire and Tunisia, and quickly learned the importance of deploying through local teams. As a result, they focused their B2B e-commerce efforts solely in Morocco and deployed SaaS products in other markets.
“Unless you’re SaaS, expanding too early across geographies is a mistake.”
🏦 4. Shops act like neobank agents and community educators.
Instead of trying to educate end users directly, Chari adopted a B2B2C strategy that empowers shopkeepers to act as agents, helping their own customers access digital financial services like bill payments and mobile top-ups. By piggybacking on trust and proximity, Chari slashes acquisition costs and drives adoption organically.
“These shopkeepers are already educators. People trust them.”
That’s all, folks! Once again, thanks for reading. See you next week!