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Two-year-old financial technology company Mama Money is set to expand its business on the continent when it opens operations in Mozambique, Malawi and Kenya next month.
The company’s co-founder, Matt Coquillon, told City Press that the firm was set to increase its outbound transaction service to more countries, and was in talks with potential investors to raise more capital for planned growth.
“So far, we have been funding the business ourselves and it’s been on a shoestring budget,” Coquillon said.
He declined to estimate the company’s value, but said it was worth millions of rands.
Coquillon said an equity sale was the first of the company’s three-phase funding plan, which was part of its expansion plans that would include venturing into Europe, Asia and Australia.
The company, established in 2015 by Coquillon and Raphael Grojnowski, has more than 50 000 migrant subscribers in South Africa who send money to four African countries: Zimbabwe, Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania.
The company has its sights set on the global stage in the long term.
Coquillon said expanding into African markets had not been difficult at all because Mama Money’s services were outbound from South Africa.
“Every country loves money to come in. It’s not that easy if it is taking money out,” he said.
He reckoned that the business’ main differentiators were mainly its cost and trust, with the latter being an important pillar in the company’s model.
“Our total fees are charged on a sliding scale up to 5% per transaction, which is dramatically less than the industry average of 12%.”
As the service does not need a bank account, a South African ID, a smartphone, airtime or even the internet to transact, the platform has gained a lot of popularity among foreign nationals.
Grojnowski said the convenience of the service had led to it reaching 6 million mobile wallets and 2 million bank accounts because of its integration with the major financial institutions across the four countries.
“South Africa is home to Africa’s largest migrant community. Money transfer is not a luxury product. People come here to find work and support their families back home.
"Mama Money’s rates are much less than the standard cost of money transfers and our customers are charged a maximum fee of only 5%. There are no clearance periods or delays. Exchange rates and commission fees are completely transparent,” said Grojnowski.
To counter possible illegalities, the service has a daily limit of R5 000 and a monthly cap of R25 000. It is integrated into the World-Check global screening agency, which detects illicit transactions.
Mama Money also has its own internal technology that monitors and flags transactional behaviour.
According to Coquillon, the two pioneers met on a beach in Mozambique.
“I was on a corporate sabbatical and Grojnowski was travelling through the continent to central Africa. I tagged along, and we obviously connected and became friends,” he said.
Before starting the business, Grojnowski worked for the UN and Coquillon had a corporate job.
