About the Founder
Mountaga Vince DIOP (MVD)
Founder, engineer, global citizen. Owner of DIOP Tech BV.
Biography
An engineer fascinated by technology in Africa
Mountaga Vince Diop is a skilled engineer fascinated by developing and deploying technology in Africa. He considers himself a global citizen, having lived and worked across four continents — Africa, Europe, North America and Asia.
That global perspective, combined with deep African roots, gives him a rare ability to bridge cultures, markets and technologies. Born in France to a Senegalese father and a Dutch mother, he spent part of his childhood in Ethiopia at Lycée Guébré-Mariam — a connection so deep that he gave all six of his children Ethiopian names.
Education
| Senegal | Military polytechnic school of Thies, focusing on STEM fields |
|---|---|
| France | Management certificate from the Ecole International de Bordeaux |
| Japan | First Senegalese admitted to the Leadership Academy of Japan (JCE) |
| Canada | Moved there to enhance his IT skills |
Entrepreneurial Journey
Four continents, thirty years of building
Origins
Born in France, raised between continents
Born in France to a Senegalese father and a Dutch mother, Diop spent part of his childhood in Ethiopia, attending Lycée Guébré-Mariam — a connection so deep that he gave all six of his children Ethiopian names.
Education
Senegal, France, Japan, Canada
Military polytechnic school of Thies (STEM); a management certificate from the Ecole International de Bordeaux; first Senegalese admitted to the Leadership Academy of Japan (JCE); and a move to Canada to enhance his IT skills.
Early career
Dakar and national IT policy
He headed the computer department of the municipality of Dakar at a young age. By 26 he was an active member of the Senegalese National IT Commission and later became an advisor to Senegal's head of state — one of the country's youngest advisors at the time.
1995
AlphaCad
He founded AlphaCad, the first Senegalese IT company to outsource its services to the French market, specialising in digitalizing blueprint maps for the French administration.
2000
Cydcor and Interaccess, Canada
He relocated to Canada to learn how to sell and build distribution networks, joining Cydcor, then founding Interaccess in Montreal — a prepaid debit card venture for Quebec's underbanked immigrant population, the first prepaid debit card sold in stores in North America.
2008
World Open Services (WOS)
In the Netherlands he co-founded World Open Services, specialised in IT solutions on a Platform as a Service model. WOS is the parent holding company for the BelCash trademark.
2010
BelCash in Ethiopia
On vacation in Addis Ababa, Diop and co-founder Abraham Gulilat noticed a bank check took four hours to process. They founded BelCash Technology Solutions PLC to serve a market of over 100 million people.
2022
MamaPays, with UNCDF and Visa
As CEO of BelCash, Diop founded MamaPays — a digital remittance and bill-payment platform built with UNCDF and Visa. It won a UNCDF global contest for innovative digital financial solutions and was recognised by Visa as one of the most innovative platforms of the year. A new version is now integrated into Helloopass.
From Interaccess he drew a lesson that still shapes the group: the value of building and owning proprietary platforms and infrastructure rather than relying on pre-existing ones.
Latest chapter
Helloopass — a community trading OS for Africa
Helloopass is a mobile trading Platform-as-a-Service owned by World Open Services (WOS IP) / BelCash Group — an operating system that facilitates trade between community members and between communities, and one of the fastest growing trading platforms in Africa.
Under Diop's leadership the platform embeds five trading models natively — Marketplace, Distribution, Disbursement, eCommerce and Sponsored Wallets — with digital wallets, QR code payments and white-label deployment on Android, iOS and web for local partners. Merchants join with revenue-sharing rather than upfront fees.
It today serves 500,000 end users and 5,000 daily active merchants, has been adopted by the UN World Food Programme in Ethiopia for aid distribution, and is expanding toward 20 African markets by 2028.
See the Helloopass venture- 500,000
- End users
- 5,000
- Daily active merchants
- UN WFP
- Institutional adoption in Ethiopia
Philosophy
AI-DI: technology that serves humanity
Artificial intelligence complemented by divine intelligence — the belief that the spiritual and intuitive side of human wisdom belongs inside the solutions we build.
- Technology should serve humanity, not the other way around.
- Innovation must be grounded in values, ethics and a deep understanding of human needs.
- Solutions should empower communities and respect the cultural and spiritual dimensions of life.
“In the next 25 years, we will build a legacy that will last for a century.”Explore the ventures