Name

Amarante Consulting

Legal name

Amarante Consulting

Website

https://amaranteconsulting.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Financial Services Consulting

NAICS

Management Consulting Services (54161), Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services (5416)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Strategy & IT Advisory (BPAEAAAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Financial Management & Performance Improvement Consulting (BPAHACAF), Emerging Tech (IoT, Blockchain, AR/VR, Edge) Consulting (BPAHAEAL), Innovation, Product & R&D Consulting (BPAHACAM)

Keywords

• Digital financial services consulting
• Financial inclusion advisory
• Mobile money consulting
• Branchless banking advisory
• DFS implementation support

Headquarters

HQ city

Dubai

HQ country

United Arab Emirates

HQ region

Middle East

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Advisory and Technical Consulting Services: Amarante generates revenue by providing fee-based advisory and technical assistance engagements to clients across the digital financial services ecosystem. Engagements are structured around strategy and design, implementation and rollout, due diligence, training and capacity building, workshops, market research and insights, and monitoring and evaluation.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Amarante Consulting provides fee-based advisory and technical assistance engagements to clients across the digital financial services ecosystem, including banks, microfinance institutions, mobile network operators, fintechs, payment processors, governments, regulators, and international development organizations. Engagements are structured around a proprietary four-stage methodology (Launch It, Color It, Share It, Nail It) covering strategy and design, implementation and rollout, due diligence, training and capacity building, workshops, market research and insights, and monitoring and evaluation for digital financial services (DFS) such as mobile money, branchless banking, mobile wallets, agent networks, and financial inclusion initiatives across emerging markets.

Product overview

Amarante Consulting is a consulting firm specializing in advisory and technical assistance for digital market-based solutions, primarily focused on Digital Financial Services (DFS). They do not offer a unified software product or platform. Their service portfolio consists of consulting practice areas organized across the client journey: Launch it (foundation and business case development), Color it (operational model design), Share it (portfolio offering through innovation), and Nail it (digital business expansion). Core expertise spans strategy and design, implementation and rollout, due diligence, training and capacity building, workshops and knowledge generation, market research and insights, and monitoring and evaluation. These are advisory services, not packaged software products.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Launch It - Foundation and Business Case Advisory Strategic advisory service helping banks, MFIs, MNOs, fintechs, governments, and development organisations build an informed business case and strong foundation for new digital financial services offerings. The service covers opportunity sizing, market entry feasibility, and stakeholder alignment at the launch stage of a DFS initiative.
• Color It - Operational Model Design Advisory service that designs and implements the operational model for digital financial services businesses, supporting clients to make their DFS operations robust and scalable. Engagements cover operating-model redesign, agent network design, processes, and operational governance for banks, MFIs, MNOs, and fintech clients.
• Share It - Portfolio Offering and Hybrid Products Advisory service helping DFS clients grow their portfolio offering through innovation and hybrid product design. Supports banks, MFIs, MNOs and fintechs in expanding product lines, bundling financial services, and designing inclusive offerings for underserved segments.
• Nail It - Digital Business Expansion Advisory service supporting DFS clients in expanding and digitalising their business across industry sectors. Helps clients leverage their digital strengths to enter adjacent verticals such as digital agriculture, health, and education, supporting MNOs, banks, fintechs, and development organisations in their expansion roadmaps.
• Implementation and Rollout Support Hands-on technical assistance and rollout support that operationalises DFS strategy into deployed solutions. Engagements include field-level sensitization, partner coordination, training of trainers, and adoption support, as demonstrated in the Côte d'Ivoire cocoa farmer mobile money engagement with Cargill and IFC.
• Due Diligence Services Due diligence advisory for investors, funds, and international organisations evaluating DFS and fintech investments or partnerships. Engagements cover target screening, financial inclusion impact assessment, and DFS market entry risk evaluation in emerging markets.
• Market Research and Insights Market research, intelligence and insights assignments commissioned by private clients and development organisations such as the World Bank. Engagements include market-entry scoping, sector diagnostics, mobile money market studies (e.g. IFC Mobile Money Scoping Reports), and country-level financial inclusion diagnostics.
• Training, Workshops and Capacity Building Training, workshops and capacity-building services for client teams and partners on digital financial services, branchless banking, mobile money operations, and financial inclusion approaches. Delivered alongside advisory engagements to embed capability within client organisations.
• Monitoring and Evaluation Monitoring and evaluation services for DFS and financial inclusion programmes commissioned by international development organisations, governments, and donors. Supports evidence-based programme design, impact assessment, and stakeholder reporting on digital financial inclusion outcomes.

Named customers7 records

Segments9 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Universal Postal Union (UPU)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Amarante collaborated with the Universal Postal Union on a Gender Fintech Study examining how postal networks can drive women's financial inclusion. Globally, banks and financial service providers can gain USD 700 billion in annual revenue if women were offered tailor-made financial services at the same rate as men. The study represents a significant knowledge contribution to the financial inclusion field.
• UNCDFcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerUNCDF is a key long-term partner. Amarante has been contracted by UNCDF in Nepal to develop remittance-linked use-cases for migrants on an innovative digital architecture. The firm has also collaborated with UNCDF on multiple DFS projects including Zambia (Maano virtual farmers market with WFP), Malawi (MLF mobile money under SSNUP), and Uganda (FSDU-supported Ethiopost exposure visits).
• CargillcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAmarante worked alongside Cargill on a project (2018) that focused on fostering mobile-based payments to cocoa farmers as a substitute for cash payments in Ivory Coast. Cargill partners with agri cooperatives and digital finance service providers to pay farmers digitally for their produce.
• IFC (International Finance Corporation)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIFC funded on-field sensitization work as part of the 2018 Ivory Coast project alongside Cargill to streamline enrollment, gain farmers' trust, and achieve adoption of mobile-based payments to cocoa farmers.
• World Food Program (WFP)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAmarante worked with WFP and UNCDF in Zambia on the Maano virtual farmers market project, using human-centered design to improve user experience and adoption of the e-commerce platform for smallholder farmers.
• Financial Sector Deepening Uganda (FSDU)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFSDU supported an Amarante-organized exposure visit for Ethiopost to Uganda, designed to empower Ethiopost with firsthand observations on DFS operations and postal financial services.
• Smallholder Safety Net Upscaling Program (SSNUP)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAmarante supported Microloan Foundation (MLF) Malawi under SSNUP to introduce mobile money services aimed at transforming financial inclusion for women and smallholder farmers in Malawi.
• World BankcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAmarante won a competitive bid to develop a market research and diagnostic report on mobile payments and financial inclusion in Tunisia, funded by the World Bank in collaboration with CAWTAR.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• MicroSave Consulting (MSC): MicroSave Consulting is one of the closest direct competitors to Amarante, providing advisory and research services to financial institutions, MFIs, MNOs and donors on DFS, mobile money, agent networks and financial inclusion — the same client roster and service mix that defines Amarante.
• CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor): CGAP is housed at the World Bank and produces research, benchmarks and technical guidance on financial inclusion and DFS for regulators, providers and donors — a peer in the same ecosystem whose output shapes the demand for advisory services like Amarante's.
• FSD Africa (Financial Sector Deepening Africa): FSD Africa funds and directly executes DFS market diagnostics, technical assistance and innovation programming across African markets — comparable to Amarante's UNCDF- and World Bank-funded financial inclusion advisory work and a likely co-engagement partner on some mandates.
• Bankable Frontier Associates (BFA): BFA is a specialized financial inclusion and DFS consulting firm that serves banks, MFIs, fintechs, MNOs and investors — a near-identical target market and service offering to Amarante, including strategy, implementation support, due diligence and M&E on DFS deployments in emerging markets.
• Dalberg Advisors: Dalberg's Global Development and Inclusive Finance practices provide management consulting to multilateral agencies, governments and private-sector clients in emerging markets, with substantial overlap to Amarante in serving UNCDF/World Bank-style clients on DFS and financial inclusion mandates.
• Intellecap Advisory: Intellecap provides advisory and investment banking services to inclusive finance, DFS and impact enterprises across Africa and Asia, sharing Amarante's emerging-market orientation and focus on building digital financial services for underserved customers.

Emerging players

• Paywizard / Thitsa Works (DFS technology & training): Specialised DFS technology and training providers serve the same MFI, MNO and donor clients in Southeast Asia and Africa; they are an adjacent emerging player that intersects Amarante's implementation-support and capacity-building mandates.
• Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA): IPA delivers impact evaluations and applied research for DFS programs funded by donors and governments, overlapping with Amarante's M&E and market research work and sometimes partnering on the same donor-funded engagements.

Broad incumbents

• McKinsey & Company (Global Banking & Securities / Fintech): McKinsey's Global Banking practice and fintech initiatives advise major MNOs, banks and multilateral clients on DFS strategy and digital transformation — a broad incumbent that competes at the larger end of the same RFP pool as Amarante.
• EY-Parthenon (Financial Services / Fintech practice): EY-Parthenon's Financial Services and fintech advisory teams serve global banks, fintechs and investors on DFS-relevant strategy and digital transformation, representing the broader-incumbent category that competes with Amarante on larger cross-border DFS mandates.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/AmaranteConsult

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Amarante Consulting