EXCLUSIVE: Muva Networks, founded by ‘Ajebutter’, secures Nigerian remittance (IMTO) licence

Muva Networks, founded by Akitoye “Ajebutter” Balogun, has secured an International Money Transfer (IMTO) licence from the Central Bank of Nigeria. Ajebutter is a Nigerian tech professional and entrepreneur, musician and rapper.

Founded in 2021, “Muva Networks Limited is proud to announce that we have been granted an International Money Transfer Operator (IMTO) licence by the Central Bank of Nigeria,” he said. “This marks a significant milestone in our mission to build the infrastructure powering seamless, secure, and compliant cross-border payments for businesses operating in and beyond Africa.”

The company started out as the unseen layer helping fintechs and remittance companies to rebalance their treasury and fulfil operational obligations. “We started off being the liquidity provider a lot of fintechs and fx companies relied on, doing high volume OTC trades,” CEO Akitoye Balogun told Condia. In 2025, Muva processed over $200 million.

Globally, the cross-border market has exploded with a market size of $208 trillion. In Nigeria, and Africa, the opportunity is magnified as the country experiences dollar scarcity, yet, businesses need to make import payments to suppliers. On the consumer-to-consumer side, Nigeria is a top 10 destination for remittances in the world. This has led to an influx of providers into Africa’s biggest country, looking to offer individuals and businesses dollar access, and foreign payouts.

The Central Bank has responded in 2021 by ramping up on its licensing and enforcement activities to bring more players into its purview. In 2025, the total number of IMTOs in the country crossed 100 for the first time in the apex bank’s licensing history. There are now more IMTOs than local payment providers in Nigeria. “The regulatory volatility in the space pushed us and all other players in the space to get the right licenses,” Balogun told Condia.

Alongside its registration with FINTRAC, Muva now holds the permission to issue multicurrency virtual accounts, facilitate currency exchange and remit funds. Broadly, the Canadian MSB registration helps to secure the global partnerships needed for multicurrency virtual accounts and rails, while its local African licences and partnerships help to terminate into those countries.

Muva operates in nine African countries, including Nigeria. “In terms of African countries, we facilitate payments either directly or through our verified merchant networks in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Cameroon, South Africa, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Mozambique, Uganda,” he said.

Mr Balogun is part of a handful of Nigerian media personalities and entertainers who are tech entrepreneurs. Three years after graduating from the University of Manchester with a Master’s Degree in Project Management, he joined Cisco and exited four years later in 2020 as an Enterprise Sales Manager. Akitoye Balogun has led Muva as its Chief Executive since 2021.

Oluwatosin “Mr Eazi” Ajibade is another such musician-cum-entrepreneur to have leveraged his fame from entertainment to build a string of thriving businesses. Ajibade is the cofounder of Pawapay, a payments company spun off from betPawa, a betting company, in 2020. Pawapay raised $9 million in seed funding.

Muva, on the other hand, is bootstrapped. The company will have to tap deeply into its founder’s sales experience and network to compete against other well-funded and entrenched players in the market like Africhange, LemFi, and Raenest.

Last updated: June 30, 2026