Petruwalus: Digitising Africa’s Peanut Trade with FinTech Innovation

#40Days40FinTechs Zambia and Malawi Edition Day 37

Across Africa, peanuts are a staple snack and a vital crop for many rural communities. Yet, despite high demand, there remains a significant gap in how peanut products are marketed, distributed, and paid for especially in rural areas where cash remains dominant and digital access is limited.

Petruwalus Food Production, a Zambian start-up, is bridging this gap by combining agriculture, e-commerce, and FinTech. The team is building a digital platform that connects organic peanut farmers to consumers through a secure, seamless, and cashless system.

With both a web portal and mobile app in development, Petruwalus aims to modernise the peanut supply chain while empowering rural producers.

“This platform enables secure digital payments for peanut snack lovers, especially in underserved rural communities. It’s about breaking the cash barrier,” said Naluca Waluka, CEO of Petruwalus.

Beyond retail, the platform is designed to help the company buy raw materials directly from farmers across the country and pay them digitally ensuring efficiency, transparency, and inclusivity.

Women in FinTech

Petruwalus was one of the 16 start-ups that participated in the 2025 COMESA Women in FinTech Hackathon, organised by HiPipo in partnership with the COMESA Business Council. The experience proved transformational.
“Before the Hackathon, our solution was mostly product-focused. But the mentorship helped us reframe it with FinTech at the core ensuring market access and financial empowerment for farmers,” noted Gladys Mwandila, a team member at Petruwalus.

The team also embraced the Level One Project principles of inclusivity, interoperability, and instant push payments. Inspired by training on Mojaloop, they plan to integrate instant payment clearing into their system.
“We want clearing to happen in just one second,” said Philip Green from Mojaloop, emphasizing the future-ready vision of the team.

A Platform for Growth

Petruwalus’ vision goes beyond peanuts it’s about financial inclusion, rural empowerment, and modernising agribusiness. By digitising payments and connecting smallholder farmers to a broader market, the start-up is contributing to Africa’s growing digital economy.

Their story is part of the #40Days40FinTechs Zambia and Malawi Edition, an initiative by HiPipo that showcases trailblazing FinTechs working to include everyone. The campaign has so far featured over 200 FinTech innovators from across East and Southern Africa, providing them visibility, mentorship, and tools like the Level One Project and Mojaloop Open Source Software to scale their impact.