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Mukuru

https://www.mukuru.com/

Mukuru is the one of the largest money transfer providers in Africa. We enable the continent’s migrant diaspora to send and receive safe, convenient international money transfers. From this foundation we have grown a wide range of products and services based on our customers’ needs, that move them closer to their dreams of financial security and a better life.

Our far-reaching footprint across Africa helps us to keep adding to our robust and resilient physical and digital financial payments infrastructure that unlocks new value-added services for our loyal customers. This includes cash transfers, Mukuru Funeral Cover, and the Mukuru Card.

We always attempt to ‘speak the language’ of our users and gain a grassroots understanding of the unique pain points that customers face in each market.

We interact with our users across a number of platforms that include WhatsApp, free USSD, the Mukuru App and website. Customers can always speak to Mukuru about any challenges or difficulties with the platform, whether it’s a Mukuru agent in a physical booth, at a branch, over the telephone or via a virtual live chat function in a language of the customer’s choosing, and often in their mother tongue. Take a walk through our Contact Centre at any time, and you’ll hear conversations in 15 languages – our very own united nations of Africa and Asia.

WHAT'S IN A NAME?
The name Mukuru means ‘elder’ in Shona and is part of our Southern African heritage. In most cultures across the continent, an elder is a wise, highly-respected figure in the community. For us, the name speaks of wisdom, age and respect, and a pillar or support in the community. This is our inspiration: to be seen as a support to the communities we serve, and it is part of all our efforts to build trust in the Mukuru brand.

WHO WE ARE
Our heart, or DNA, is preoccupied with solving pain points for Africa’s emerging consumers. Whether home is the land of their birth or the diaspora, we go to great lengths to understand their unique needs and challenges, and provide the best solutions we possibly can.

We understand that each customer is on a journey and has a story to tell. Many have travelled great distances and made acute personal sacrifices in search of opportunity. They work incredibly hard to provide for themselves and their families, but are so often overlooked by traditional financial providers.

Each of our staff is part of this mission and recognises that our primary objective is to work just as hard to ensure that our products and services deliver: whether simplifying and speeding up a cross border remittance, or helping our customers to store money safely in digital wallets; we aim to walk with them on their journey towards greater control of their financial lives, and we always strive to delight them along the way.

WHAT DRIVES US?
Simply put, our customers. Our intuitive, customer-led approach to service provision and digitisation aims to provide relevant and easily accessible financial inclusion opportunities to all Africans.

OUR HISTORY
From humble beginnings as a two-man band in 2004, to an African fintech giant in 2021, our journey has been one of constant innovation in order to turn challenges into opportunities.

Our founders originally built a platform to enable family and friends in the UK to send fuel coupons and groceries to friends and families in hyperinflationary Zimbabwe. As the business grew, we expanded into new African markets and used technology as a means to help people on their own journey towards financial empowerment.

Fast-forward to 2021. Our track record includes more than 50 million cross-border transactions and 8 million customers. We have established a cross-border payments network that spans more than 70 countries across Africa, Asia and Europe – strengthened by 80+ partnerships that enable 320,000 pay-in and pay-out points, as well as 1,000 Mukuru Orange Booths and branches which we keep adding to.

Our product suite has evolved from a simple international remittance service, to a wide range of offerings. We understand that digitisation is a journey that must be undertaken step-by-step, so that users become accustomed to new functionalities over time. Although each step may seem small, they represent powerful leaps towards financial inclusion - and moving customers closer to financial tools and avenues that can propel economic growth on a large scale.

Mukuru has been listed as one of the leading 150 cross-border companies globally in the 2020 FXC intelligence Incumbents vs Challengers in Cross-Border Payments and in 2021, we featured on the Cross-Border Payments 100 List published annually by global financial data company, FXC Intelligence, which tracks more than 14,000 players in the space to find the 100 businesses that are the cream of the crop.

The business is 17 years old and cannot be classified as a start-up, although it continues to harness and foster the entrepreneurially orange energy on which it was founded. South African Andy Jury, is the Group CEO.

Further information can be found at https://www.mukuru.com/the-mukuru-group/