Zazuu was established in 2018 by four entrepreneurs with African roots with the goal of giving Africans living abroad innovative alternatives to transfer money.
The diaspora is rife with inequality due to systemic bias against African immigrants. Immigrants who must overcome institutional biases will find it impossible to build their credit ratings or send money home otherwise.
Consider sending money home as an example. According to the World Bank’s most recent report, the global cost of sending money across borders averages 6.09 percent of the transaction’s value. When sending money to African nations, that percentage can occasionally reach 22 percent.
Although infrastructure problems are frequently cited as a major factor in the high cost of remittances, the World Bank claims that the main issue is a lack of transparency among remittance providers.
Remittance Prices Worldwide, a World Bank Initiative, to use their example Additionally, a lack of market transparency has had an effect on decreasing competition, as consumers have a tendency to stick with traditional market players because they are unaware of and unable to compare the services, costs, and speed of their current remittance service against other products.
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The company’s four founders, Kay Akinwunmi (CEO), Korede Fanilola (COO), Tola Alade (CDO), and Tosin Ekolie (CTO), come from a variety of professional backgrounds, including banking and finance, design, technology, and design. Dealing with institutional biases like unfair remittance practices, however, has been a bringing together experience for Africans living in the diaspora. They came together in 2018 to address the challenge because of their shared experiences and enthusiasm for helping Africans.
“In 2018, I sent $3000 or so to my family in Nigeria. I believed I received the best deal possible for that transaction up until about two weeks later, when I learned I could have avoided up to $30 in fees by using a different provider. Korede Fanilola said, “I was furious. We’ve all had similar scenarios, where we only realized after the fact that, by picking the right supplier, we could have avoided overspending on domestic purchases.
About Zazuu
“Our goal has always been straightforward for us since the beginning. Remittance transactions have consistently given Africans the short end of the stick. Our investigation led us to the conclusion that the providers’ lack of transparency was the main cause of this. We are developing a more intelligent method of money transmission to address that issue. Users can use Zazuu to look up several money transfer companies in their area, compare rates and fees, and then decide who to send money to at no additional cost, according to Kay Akinwunmi.
Zazuu has changed over the course of its two years of existence from a straightforward chatbot that informed users of the daily rates in Facebook and Telegram groups to a UK company with an FCA license that serves consumers in 8 nations spanning North America and Europe. The current version of our Search and Compare service has been utilized by about 100,000 users to get the cheapest prices for their area.
What The Recent Funding Means For Zazuu
With its recent financing, Zazuu has taken a big step toward its goal of providing smart ways for Africans to move their money. Launch Africa, Founders Factory Africa, Hoaq Club, Tinie Tempah, Jason Njoku, CEO IrokoTV, Babs Ogundeyi, CEO Kuda Bank, and other angel investors took part in the funding round.
We’re pleased with the specific investors who have joined us on this journey, Kay Akinwunmi stated in reference to the most recent fundraising round. We’re always looking for savvy investors who can provide more than just capital; individuals who share our vision of an African-friendly world. We think we can create a more equal financial services ecosystem with their help.
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Zach George, Managing Partner at Launch Africa, said why the company funded Zazuu in the following way: “Zazuu is establishing a true marketplace for financial services, starting with remittances and payments. We are confident that their enterprise will result in fairer, more transparent pricing and improved cross-border money mobility throughout the continent of Africa.
Views From The Investors
“At FFA we look to support exceptional entrepreneurs in converting great ideas into ventures that are built to scale,” furthered Sam Sturm, Chief Venture Architect at Founders Factory Africa. The remittance industry has a huge opportunity for innovation because it is opaque and fragmented, which makes it wasteful and ineffective for users. In collaborating with Zazuu, we witnessed an amazing team tackling a worthwhile problem with a solution that has enormous growth potential.
But Zazuu is still in its first day. The startup just released a feature called Pay with Zazuu that enables users to make transactions inside of the app. As a result, consumers don’t need to leave the app in order to browse, compare, and finish their transfers with various providers. Although senders in the UK and receivers in Nigeria and Ghana are now the only countries that can use this service, Zazuu is working quickly to increase access to additional people.
Following the fundraising, the company’s COO, Korede Fanilola, remarked, “The plan for us is growth. We want to scale our offering as soon as we can. Before the end of the year, we hope to have the permits necessary to provide our service to users in other European nations. Along with this, we’ll be adding additional features to the product to make sure everyone sending money to Africa has the greatest possible experience.
While the business is focusing on the urgent issue of cross-border payments, it also wants to address other financial difficulties experienced by immigrants. We’re more than a payments company, said Kay Akinwunmi.
We want to improve the financial environment for Africans living abroad. This indicates that in the future, we aim to do more for individuals than merely facilitate transactions by giving them better access to financial resources like credit both domestically and abroad. The objective is to create an entirely impartial financial well-being for African immigrants worldwide.
