Philip Mburu

Philip Mburu co-founded Kolan — originally launched as Hurupay in 2023 — to solve a payments problem he encountered firsthand when he relocated from Kenya to Ghana in late 2021 and found himself trapped by high fees, depreciating currencies, and slow international transfers. A blockchain developer and serial innovator, Mburu founded the Blockchain Association of Ghana to advance Web3 adoption across the region, and was a member of the Sigma Squared Society, the global community of high-impact founders under 26. In 2023, he and co-founders James Mugambi and Allan Okoth — who met through the Sankore Academy blockchain coding camp — built Hurupay as a stablecoin-backed platform giving African freelancers and remote workers virtual USD, EUR, and GBP accounts. The company, now rebranded as Kolan, has processed over $50 million since January 2025 and is marginally profitable.

The Kolan story is a microcosm of the regulatory and infrastructural tightrope African fintech walks: the company paused its Kenyan USD services in 2026 amid rising anti-money laundering compliance costs, even as it expanded its platform into crypto trading and US equities. As CEO, Mburu is navigating the shift from niche cross-border tool to all-in-one financial super-app for Africa's fast-growing cohort of globally employed workers — a market that existing banks have consistently failed to serve at any reasonable price.