Industry
Consulting
Objective
Seamless funds disbursal across Africa
54 Collective (formerly Founders Factory Africa) is a leading venture builder and investor dedicated to accelerating the growth of tech-driven startups across the African continent. Through their Entrepreneur Academy, they provide critical resources, mentorship, and financial support to early-stage founders. Managing a pan-African program requires a sophisticated financial backbone capable of moving funds across borders with speed, transparency, and regulatory compliance.
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Adrianne Wabakwira
Program Coordinator, 54 Collective
the Challenge
The Entrepreneur Academy faced a significant operational bottleneck: Fund Disbursement at Scale.
Fragmented Banking Rails: Disbursing grants and stipends to founders in multiple countries (Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, etc.) meant dealing with varying bank protocols and clearing times.
High Transaction Costs: Traditional SWIFT transfers were slow and prohibitively expensive for smaller, frequent disbursements.
Reconciliation Complexity: Tracking hundreds of individual payments across different currencies made manual accounting a logistical nightmare for the 54 Collective team.
the Solution
By integrating Startbutton’s Dispense and Comply infrastructure, 54 Collective transformed its manual payout process into a streamlined, automated engine.
Unified Payout API: A single integration allowed 54 Collective to send funds directly to founders' local bank accounts or mobile wallets across several African markets.
Localized Compliance: Startbutton handled the underlying KYC (Know Your Customer) and regulatory checks required for cross-border fund movement, ensuring every transaction met local financial standards.
Real-time Dashboarding: The team gained a centralized view of all disbursements, allowing for instant tracking and automated reporting.
the Result
The partnership with Startbutton allowed the Entrepreneur Academy to focus on its core mission—founder success—rather than payment logistics.
Speed to Value: Founders received their funds in hours rather than days, providing them with the immediate liquidity needed to scale their ventures.
Operational Savings: Reduced the administrative hours spent on manual bank uploads by over [X]%.
Scalable Infrastructure: 54 Collective can now easily onboard founders from new African markets without needing to establish new banking relationships in each territory.
