Founded by Samuel Joseph (CEO) and Toyin Olasehinde (COO), Woodcore is the culmination of extensive experience in core banking systems worldwide. Samuel Joseph brings over eight years of banking experience, including his role as country manager at Fiter, a gold partner of the Apache Fineract CBS. He has successfully overseen the implementation of core banking systems for several prominent financial institutions in Nigeria and Europe, including Sparkle, VFD, Clane, Ibanera, Woven, Onepipe, Lendsqr, and Omnibiz. These experiences motivated him to create a more robust and modular core banking system: Woodcore.
Toyin Olasehinde, former COO of Treford and ex-Interswitch, emphasizes that the mission behind Woodcore is to “deliver technology solutions that are both composable and dynamic, capable of supporting various fintech use cases.”
Woodcore provides users with rapid market access, significantly reducing the need for extensive development resources. This API-first core banking system can serve as an enhancement to legacy banking systems such as Finacle, Flexcube, or Temenos, allowing banks to broaden their digital offerings. Alternatively, it can function as a primary core banking solution for standard banking operations, including both over-the-counter transactions and workflows, with a strong emphasis on its API-based foundation.
As digital payments and fintech solutions continue to grow, financial institutions require dependable and flexible banking systems. Core banking systems serve as centralized platforms for storing, sharing, and managing all banking data. These systems empower customers to perform essential banking activities such as online banking, card transactions, transfers, and more. Woodcore is engineered to be a versatile core banking system that can be tailored to various use cases by skilled developers.
Users can easily deploy the Woodcore infrastructure through a straightforward command line interface (CLI) with customized system specifications. Woodcore provides financial institutions with adaptable deployment options, with a preference for Huawei Cloud, AWS, or GCP. Additionally, it includes features that accommodate any selected hosting partners.
From stealth mode to emerging markets, Woodcore was developed with a focus on the Middle Eastern, South Asian, and Eastern and Western African regions. Beginning in Nigeria, the company has gained traction in multiple markets, streamlining banking operations in Nigeria, Gambia, and Zimbabwe.
Over the past four years of discreet operation, Woodcore has delivered seamless APIs to 24 financial institutions, including ROVA Bank by FCMB and Kredi Microfinance Bank. Collectively, these institutions manage around 1.3 million accounts. Woodcore has facilitated over 4 million unique transactions and more than 500,000 API calls each day. The company is now expanding its efficient banking API to additional markets.
Samuel Joseph states, "The future is upon us." Over the last four years, we have been diligently working behind the scenes to refine Woodcore, our advanced core banking platform. Operating in stealth mode, we have committed ourselves to developing, testing, benchmarking, and enhancing solutions for some of the most intricate banking challenges. As we transition out of stealth mode, our attention is now directed towards emerging markets, where financial institutions are eager for innovative technologies that can address issues of accessibility, efficiency, and growth.
Woodcore aims to expand its proven product into broader markets. The company is making significant progress in South Asia and the Middle East. Additionally, they plan to initiate a hackathon program to cultivate a talent pipeline in core banking operations, starting in West Africa, with an expected launch in 2025.
Discover more about Woodcore’s user-friendly API here.