Five Years of Daba: Over 300,000 People, One Vision, and Africa’s Moment to Invest

From an ambitious idea to a global community of more than 300,000 users, Daba is celebrating five years of breaking down barriers to investing in Africa. And we’re only getting started.

Five years ago, we chose a name.

Daba.

In Morocco, it means now. Across Francophone West Africa, a daba is a farmer’s hoe — a tool used to cultivate the land, build livelihoods, and create wealth from the ground up.

At the time, we could not have imagined just how perfectly that name would capture our journey.

Because five years later, what started as an idea has become a movement.

Over 300,000 people across Africa, the United States, Canada, Europe, and beyond have joined Daba, united by the belief that Africa’s economic growth should create opportunities for everyone to participate.

Today, as Daba celebrates its fifth anniversary, we’re reflecting on how far we’ve come, the people who made it possible, and the future we’re building together.

But most importantly, we’re celebrating you.

It Started With a Simple Vision: Make Investing in Africa Accessible to Everyone

When we founded Daba in 2021, we saw a fundamental gap.

Africa was home to growing businesses, dynamic economies, innovative entrepreneurs, and capital markets full of potential.

Yet for millions of people — including Africans living on the continent and across the diaspora — participating in those opportunities remained unnecessarily complicated.

Access to trustworthy investment information was fragmented. Opening investment accounts could be difficult. Understanding African stock exchanges required specialized knowledge. Investing across borders introduced additional complexities.

We asked ourselves a simple question:

What if investing in Africa could be as straightforward as investing in the United States or Europe?

What if anyone, regardless of their background, income, location, or financial education, could discover investment opportunities, understand the risks, and make informed decisions using one platform?

That question became Daba’s mission: to democratize access to investing in Africa and beyond.

Five years later, that mission continues to guide every feature we build, every partnership we establish, and every market we enter.

From an Idea to Over 300,000 Users: Five Years of Building Trust

Our journey was not built overnight.

In July 2022, Daba announced the public beta of its investment application on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, initially rolling out to 200 users.

Before launch, our waitlist had already attracted more than $5 million in investment capital pledged by prospective users.

It was an early indication that demand for accessible African investment opportunities was real.

By the end of 2024, Daba had crossed 30,000 users.

By December 2025, that number had grown to more than 180,000 — a remarkable acceleration documented in our 2025 annual recap.

Today, five years into our journey, our community has grown to over 300,000 users worldwide.

Behind that number are individual stories.

A young professional in Abidjan making a first investment on the BRVM. A member of the African diaspora in Paris exploring opportunities back home. An investor in Canada discovering African equities. A family learning how to build long-term wealth through disciplined investing.

Every account represents a decision to participate in Africa’s financial future.

And every one of those decisions matters.

Five Years of Innovation: Building an All-in-One African Investment Platform

Our ambition has never been simply to create another investment application.

We set out to build a comprehensive investment experience that brings access, education, research, and portfolio management together.

Over five years, that vision has evolved into an expanding ecosystem of products and services.

1. Bringing African Stocks and the BRVM Closer to Investors

One of our earliest priorities was simplifying access to publicly listed African companies.

Through Daba, eligible investors can discover opportunities on the Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières (BRVM), the regional stock exchange serving eight West African countries, subject to applicable market access requirements.

Our goal was to transform what had traditionally been a complex investment process into an intuitive digital experience.

Today, our African Capital Markets platform brings together stock prices, company information, and market data across the BRVM and the Nigerian Exchange.

From researching listed companies to tracking investments and monitoring market performance, we’re working to make African capital markets more transparent, understandable, and accessible.

2. Expanding Beyond Stocks Into Bonds and Managed Funds

Building wealth requires more than access to a single asset class.

In 2024, we expanded our offering with bonds, helping investors explore fixed-income opportunities alongside equities.

In 2025, we introduced managed funds, adding professionally managed investment solutions designed for different investor profiles and long-term objectives.

As highlighted in Daba’s 2025 milestone review, managed funds represented an important step toward building a more complete wealth-management platform.

Together, these products bring Daba closer to our vision of a unified platform for African investing.

3. Making Investing Simpler With Collections and Recurring Investments

Innovation is not always about creating more complex financial products.

Sometimes, it’s about making good investing habits easier.

Our thematic Stock Collections help investors discover companies grouped by geography, industry, and investment themes. In 2024 alone, we launched 13 collections — one of the milestones highlighted in our 2024 story.

In 2025, we introduced recurring investments, allowing users to adopt a more systematic approach to building their portfolios over time.

We also launched an investor risk-profile assessment to help people better understand their investment preferences and risk tolerance.

These tools reflect an important belief: financial confidence grows when people have the knowledge and tools to make decisions suited to their goals.

4. Launching Daba Academy: Because Education Creates Opportunity

Access to financial markets is important.

But access without knowledge is not enough.

That’s why 2025 marked the official launch of Daba Academy, our dedicated financial education platform.

Through structured courses, tutorials, educational videos, and market insights, Daba Academy helps new and experienced investors strengthen their understanding of African markets, investment products, and wealth-building principles.

Our launch of Daba Academy in April 2025 marked a major step in our commitment to making financial education more accessible across Francophone Africa.

Alongside our educational programs, we expanded our content through webinars, market commentary, and our weekly podcast, Markets Talk — Parlons Marchés for our French-speaking audience.

We believe Africa’s next generation of investors should not simply have access to financial products.

They should have the knowledge to evaluate them.

5. Bringing Professional Market Intelligence to More Investors With Daba Pro

Information is one of the biggest barriers to participating confidently in financial markets.

Daba Pro was created to narrow that gap.

Through research reports, company analysis, market commentary, stock insights, and official market publications, Daba Pro brings a richer investment intelligence experience to our users.

In 2024, we established a research-content partnership with Tellimer, expanding the international reach of expert-driven analysis of African equity and fixed-income markets.

Our investment research also demonstrated its potential in 2024, as documented in How Daba Pro Helped Investors Beat the Market in 2024.

Our objective is to make high-quality African market information easier to discover, understand, and use.

6. Connecting Investors Through Community and Better Technology

Investing doesn’t have to be an isolated experience.

With community features such as Daba Circles, integrated support, and continued improvements across our mobile application, we’ve worked to make the investor experience more collaborative and intuitive.

Throughout 2025, we introduced improvements to onboarding, investment workflows, portfolio information, and access to research.

As detailed in Daba’s 2025 product recap, we also consolidated Daba Pro research, investment commentary, market publications, and community tools directly into the application.

Every improvement serves the same purpose: reducing friction between someone’s intention to invest and their ability to take informed action.

2026: Opening the Door to Nigeria’s Capital Markets

One of our most important milestones came in September 2026, when Daba announced a strategic partnership with Coronation Securities Limited and Coronation Asset Management Limited.

The partnership expanded digital access to Nigerian capital-market products for eligible investors around the world.

Through Daba’s platform, users can access Nigerian market intelligence, educational resources, digital onboarding, investment requests, and portfolio reporting.

The underlying Nigerian capital-market services are provided through Coronation’s regulated businesses, while Daba manages the digital user experience.

With this expansion, we’ve moved beyond our original West African market focus to connect investors with opportunities on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX).

Through our African Capital Markets hub, users can now explore listed companies across both the BRVM and NGX in one place.

For Africans abroad and international investors interested in Nigeria’s capital markets, this is another meaningful step toward a more connected investment ecosystem.

And for us, it represents something even bigger.

We’re building bridges between African economies, financial institutions, and investors around the world.

From Mobile to Desktop: The Next Chapter of the Daba Experience

In September 2026, we also announced the launch of the Daba Finance web platform.

For the first time, our users could access a comprehensive Daba investment experience directly through a web browser, extending beyond our original mobile application.

The platform brings together market discovery, investment monitoring, research, and portfolio tools across supported African markets.

Introduced as part of Daba Pro, with a 30-day free trial available to Daba users at launch, the web platform represents another step toward making African market participation more convenient.

Whether on a phone or a desktop, wherever our users are located, we want meaningful financial opportunities to remain within reach.

Create your Daba account and explore the platform.

Recognizing the Partners Who Believed in Our Vision

Building investment infrastructure is not something one company can accomplish alone.

Over the years, we’ve had the privilege of collaborating with financial institutions, investment firms, technology providers, research partners, and market participants who share our ambition.

Our journey has included collaborations with Tellimer, Coronation, The Africa Fund, Fundr, and Launch Africa.

In 2024, Daba was named the winner of the Ecobank Fintech Challenge, an achievement featured in our 2024 annual review.

We’ve also had the opportunity to share our vision through industry conferences and media platforms across Africa and internationally.

These milestones have helped amplify an idea we believe deeply in: African financial markets deserve world-class technology, infrastructure, research, and visibility.

To our partners, institutions, regulators, stock exchanges, financial houses, and financial backers: thank you for believing in our mission and helping make this journey possible.

To Our 300,000+ Users: This Anniversary Belongs to You

There is something our CEO, Boum III Jr, emphasizes in his fifth-anniversary message.

Our users did not simply download an app.

They made a decision to believe in Africa’s future — and backed that belief with action.

That distinction is at the heart of everything we do.

Each time someone opens an investment account, starts learning through Daba Academy, explores an African company, or builds an investment portfolio, they are helping transform the relationship between Africans and their capital markets.

And that transformation is bigger than Daba.

To those who trusted us when we were just an idea, thank you.

To those who joined during our earliest product launches, thank you.

To those who continue to share their feedback, challenge us, and help us improve, thank you.

To the institutions and investors who supported our ambitions before they became achievements, thank you.

And to everyone who has yet to begin their investment journey with us: our doors are open.

The Next Five Years: More Markets, More Innovation, More Opportunity

Five years ago, we set out to open doors.

Today, those doors are opening across a growing number of African markets and investor communities.

The next chapter is about going further.

We envision a future in which investors can discover more African businesses, access more investment products, benefit from better financial education, and manage their wealth with greater confidence.

A future in which distance, geography, financial background, and information gaps become smaller obstacles to financial participation.

A future in which more of Africa’s growth can be shared through accessible, transparent, and responsible investment opportunities.

We know that meaningful progress requires more than ambition. It requires strong institutions, regulatory collaboration, investor protection, reliable technology, and trust earned over time.

That is the future we remain committed to building.

Africa’s Moment Is Now. Let’s Bring It to the World.

Five years ago, Daba was a name and an idea.

Today, it is a community of over 300,000 people.

And we believe the most important part of our story is still ahead.

As Boum III Jr reminds us in his anniversary message, the distance between ambition and realization is getting shorter.

Africa’s investment opportunities should not remain out of reach for the people who believe in its potential.

They should be understandable. Accessible. Connected to the world.

To everyone who has been part of these first five years — and everyone who will join us in the years to come — thank you.

Here’s to five years of opening doors, and many more years of building Africa’s financial future together.

Africa’s moment is not someday. Africa’s moment is now.

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