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My guest today is Katlego Maphai, CEO & Co-Founder of Yoco, a South African payments company that processes billions of dollars annually, and serves hundreds of thousands of small businesses every day.
Founded in 2013, the company has raised $100+ million from great investors, including Quona, Dragoneer, Partech, HOF Capital, and many more.
In this episode, we discuss:
The evolution of fintech in South Africa and some of the massive funding and regulatory challenges Yoco had to overcome since inception back in 2013
“We founded the company in 2013, but launched at the end of 2015. And a lot of that gap was… it took us a year to get a license to operate, and we had to convince one of the institutions to sponsor us. South Africa is a bank-led regulatory environment, and we had to convince an institution, which was highly unusual at the time, and everyone thought we were crazy.”
Yoco drew inspiration from companies like Square, but Katlego shares how they built a product adapted to the local market and listened to client needs
“How do you reach all these small businesses at scale, at a price that makes sense, and in a manner where they don't need a human being to come help them get set up? And this was the key. And we got inspired looking at two industries... The mobile industry and e-commerce.”
Yoco’s relationship with their customers and how they are empowering SMBs and helping most of them accept digital payments for the very first time
“Seeing somebody who was operating in cash, pen and paper, you can imagine… in this context you don't exist. So getting a product like this into somebody's hands for the first time, and they now go on a digitization journey… we follow a very simple marketing strategy, we just tell the stories of our customers, that's our marketing strategy.”
Advice for international investors backing African startups for the first time, company culture… and a lot more!
“The opportunity in Africa, is also the challenge. And the investors who can wrap their minds around this, have a bit of patience, will, over the long term, reap significant rewards.”
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Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder & Managing General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter.
Katlego Maphai, Yoco CEO/Co-Founder – Building a South African Digital Giant, Empowering Small Businesses, & Founder Lessons to Overcome Adversity