- A non-sanctioned country
- Partnering up with existing banks so you can actually process payments and manage fees
- Regulatory license for payment processing - if applicable
- PCIDSS compliance if you will process cards (can come later on, card schemes will knock your door)
- A really secure infrastructure and application (or you are in trouble)
- Some of the founding people actually knowing the domain
- Well-thought API
If you get past the first one then the rest is actually all about the investment.
So the first step (and this is true for anything to do with the finance industry) is to study the banking laws and regulations of your country.
The second step is to determine what FinTech infrastructure they have in place for banking, and what you will have to build and add-on to it. E.g: National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) was created by India to be the backbone of its digital payment systems over its existing banking system - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Payments_Corporation_... ... If your country already has something like that in place, then check if they offer a way for private entities to use it build on it. For e.g. NPCI offers an API Platform called Nfinite that allows corporates and startups to tap into their network and build new platforms (see https://nfinite.in/about-us ).
- Build a tech stack, that is limited on your skills
- Deal with laws, regulation and banks
- Be ready to feel the beautiful world of "everyone will try to steal money"
- Been business savy to sell & manage this
- You will handle a potential BIG amount of money. Now you need to be reputable AND worry about been a target (in all senses: A target for the tax collectors, regulatory agencies, banks, entrenched player(s) that will try to take you down, etc)
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The first is challenging.
The second can be near impossible depending on a lot of factors (like, be friend with that "connected" people, have enough cash to support legally you can operate this, etc), specially if your country have not an already healthy ecosystem (a big tell something is fishy).
You need the second more than the first, if wanna be FIRST party on this, instead of a player in a segment of this.
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A probably better avenue is to incorporate in a place where you have access to a stablished processor (like https://stripe.com/atlas) and be a intermediary. STILL you will deal with the 4 things above (and still need to have enough financial capability to deal with the incorporation, taxes, hiring of lawyer, accounting, etc), but will be relatively easier.
Anyway, other than crypto solutions (if supported), there is no way to have financial transactions with giant western companies like Amazon. Shipping items is also another issue.
Targeting local customers is easier. Then you can expand the business to the allies countries.