Every great change begins with a single refusal: the refusal to accept limits. That refusal shaped Jessica Anuna’s journey and led to Klasha, a company opening global commerce to African consumers.
Jessica Anuna is the founder and CEO of Klasha, a cross-border payments and logistics platform making it easy for Africans to shop from international brands in their own local currencies. Born in Nigeria and raised between Lagos and London, she holds a degree in Journalism from City University, London, and also studied at The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
During her academic journey, Jessica entered the global e-commerce space: she worked at Amazon, Net-A-Porter, and Shopify, gaining front-row exposure to the speed and convenience of mature markets, and seeing how many parts of the world, especially Africa, were still left behind.
In 2015, she founded RestockChina, a product-sourcing business exporting fast-moving consumer goods to the UK and US. She lived and worked in China for about three years, gaining first-hand insight into supply chains, trade, and logistics.
By 2017, Jessica decided to launch her next venture: Klasha, a cross-border payments and logistics platform designed to break down the barriers keeping Africans from fully participating in global commerce. The platform officially went live in 2021, offering fast delivery, easy payment options in local African currencies, and seamless access to international merchants. The move was audacious for a young female founder in a male-dominated fintech space. The challenges were real: securing venture funding, building a cross-continental team, and navigating complex regulations, but Jessica pressed forward, convinced that African consumers deserved better.
In 2019, her determination earned her a place on Forbes Africa’s 30 Under 30, where she was specifically celebrated as one of the continent’s “New Wealth Creators” – young leaders building businesses that generate jobs, facilitate trade, and unlock opportunities for others.
What began as one woman’s conviction is fast becoming a blueprint for a continent’s future.
Today, Klasha is more than a payments company. It is a symbol of a new Africa: young, innovative, and unapologetically global. Under Jessica’s leadership, it is connecting thousands of merchants and millions of consumers, proving that African businesses can build world-class solutions from the continent outward.
Jessica’s story carries a message for all of us. You do not have to wait for perfect conditions to start. You do not have to accept barriers as permanent. Like Jessica, you can turn the problems you see into opportunities to serve, and in doing so, shape a new future for others.
Her journey is a reminder that courage can be contagious, vision can be world-changing, and when one person dares to build, entire communities can rise with them, unlocking possibilities far beyond what seemed imaginable.
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