It now operates in nearly a dozen African countries, providing African ex-pats working in the US and 20 European countries with a more affordable way to send money home. Last year alone, those outside Africa spent $8 billion in transfer fees. Africa remains the most expensive continent in which to send money.

In July, despite a depressed fintech market, NALA’s 100-person startup raised $40 million (with a valuation of more than $200 million). According to capital-market data provider PitchBook, only five other African fintechs have raised more than $40 million in a Series A fundraising since 2015.

The cross-border remittance service allows migrants from African countries to send money to friends and family in 11 countries, including Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda and Tanzania. NALA now has over 500,000 registered customers.

While other companies provide a similar service, NALA says it sets itself apart by understanding the diaspora’s needs and built a platform that meets those needs.

In imagining his company, Fernandes, 31, a former TV host and Stanford MBA, understood that his own path was not unusual. Roughly a million Africans leave the continent each year for education and work, and that number will likely grow. The United Nations projects that Africa’s population will nearly double to 2.5 billion by 2050, meaning the continent will be the birthplace of nearly 1 in 4 working-age people in the world. The latest for NALA is an expansion. With revenue exceeding $15 million, it will enter the South Asian market (including India, Pakistan and the Philippines) and Latin America. “While Africa’s payment issues are stark, they are part of a global problem,” says Fernandes. “Our experience as builders, cross-border and locally, in Africa gives us a unique edge. We’re excited to address similar challenges across other emerging markets.”

The return of an ancient grain to the global food marketplace could be the answer to increased hunger if other grains that were similarly dismissed for centuries also make a comeback. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization notes that the war in Ukraine and drought, among other factors, have worsened hunger globally, especially for nations that rely on imports.

Reintroducing “orphan crops” like West Africa’s fonio, Eastern Africa’s teff or Central America’s amaranth is a solution to food insecurity, according to Senegalese-born chef Pierre Thiam, owner of New York City’s Teranga restaurant.

Africa is a net importer of food, which “is just mind-boggling” because it’s more diverse than any other continent and has 60% of the world’s arable land, he says. “It is crazy that this same continent is suffering from food insecurity.”

Thiam works with small farmers to make fonio “a new world-class crop.” Through his company, Yolélé, he is building a mill in Mali and a distribution hub in Senegal to address growing demand. In less than six years, fonio has made it to grocery shelves at major US retailers and can be purchased online.

Michael Baum, deputy director of research and head of the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas Breeding, says they are working to reintroduce temperate crops native to regions, like sorghum and millet in India, “traditional crops that used to be grown there but were overtaken by crops like wheat, rice and maize.”

In North Africa, legumes make up only 4% of the total farmed cropland despite how healthy they are; 95% is cereals, like wheat, even though that’s an unhealthy ratio for the soil, according to Baum.

The potential of all these forgotten crops can be unlocked by following the fonio formula, says Thiam: Brand it, introduce it to the marketplace, create demand “by making it sexy … by telling the story and by educating people on different ways to consume it,” and then by convincing the farmers. “That could be duplicated for all those other crops,” says Thiam.