Most start-ups begin cautiously. They test, they tweak, they wait.
At EFGH, a Singapore company barely a year old, we did the opposite.
We put our name on the Tour de France Singapore Criterium 2025.
Some laughed. Some shook their heads.
But here’s the truth: if people aren’t laughing at your goals, they’re probably not big enough.
And yet, here we are.
Why cycling matters
Cycling isn’t niche here.
Every weekend, our roads are alive with pelotons of recreational riders and club groups.
And once a year, the Tour de France brand brings the world’s best sprinters to the Marina Bay circuit.
This is more than sport.
It’s a stage that reaches 190 territories and 74 million viewers worldwide; last year 30,000+ watched it live free at the Padang.
For Singapore, it signals a city confident enough to host, connect, and play at world scale.
That’s why we stepped in. Because Singapore companies should do the same.
From Singapore to the world
EFGH was founded in April 2024 with one stubborn mission: to make finance inclusive and trusted.
We call ourselves a Finternet company.
Not another app. Not another wallet.
We’re building the plumbing, the rails and pipes, that let insurance, payments, credit and remittances flow.
Why does that matter? Because millions are still locked out.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, just 55% of adults have an account; mobile money is the on-ramp (33% of adults), but barriers and gaps remain.
In Nairobi, I met a woman who walks half an hour every week under the hot sun just to send money home.
It’s inconvenient, unreliable, and expensive.
She doesn’t care about jargon, all she wants is something that works.
And the costs are stubbornly high: in 2024, sending money to Sub-Saharan Africa cost an average of 7.7%-8.4% per transaction, the highest in the world.
To put that in perspective, the United Nations has set a goal of reducing remittance costs to below 3% by 2030, meaning families in Africa today are paying almost three times more than what the UN considers fair.
So our finish line is the day when sending money, buying protection, or accessing credit is as simple as turning on a tap.
The scale of the opportunity
This isn’t a niche problem but a continental market shift.
McKinsey estimates Africa’s financial-services market could grow about 10% annually to roughly US$230 billion in revenues by 2025 (about US$150 billion excluding South Africa).
That’s the scale at which smarter rails and inclusive products can change everyday life.
And flows matter: in 2024, Africa’s remittance inflows were estimated at US$92.2 billion (about 5.2% of Africa’s GDP).
When moving money is expensive or unreliable, families pay the price.
When it’s seamless and trusted, communities thrive.
Insurance, too, is under-penetrated.
In East Africa, overall penetration sits around 1.4% (Kenya 2.1%, with neighbours far lower), a sign of how much protection remains out of reach and how much room there is for accessible, embedded cover.
Tackling the critics
Some ask: isn’t this sponsorship just branding? Shouldn’t a one-year-old company be cautious?
My answer is simple.
Branding is easy. Building trust? That’s hard.
And trust isn’t built in a boardroom, it’s built in the open.
A world-stage event tests you, signals intent, and forces high standards. That’s exactly where we want to be.
A bigger idea for Singapore
This isn’t just about EFGH.
It’s about Singapore’s ambition.
If we’re serious about staying a global hub for finance and technology, our companies can’t think small.
We need the same ethos we admire in riders - resilience, performance, connection - carried onto the world stage.
Sport mirrors society.
A one-year-old start-up making a bold bet is a statement: Singapore belongs here.
What comes next
For us, this is not the finish line. It’s the starting line.
In the next year, we will:
- Roll out financial literacy programmes in Africa;
- Expand micro-protection and remittance solutions across the continent;
- Deepen partnerships that connect people to systems they can trust.
The world doesn’t need another shiny fintech app.
It needs the gears and chains, the hidden machinery that keeps the whole ride moving.
That’s what the Finternet is: invisible when it works, indispensable when you need it.
The climb ahead
The Tour de France Singapore Criterium is more than a race. It’s a reminder of how progress is made.
You don’t win by sitting safe in the pack.
You win by daring to attack on the climb.
And that’s the ride we’ve chosen at EFGH.
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