MONEY MADE EASY
Marketed as the easiest way to send and receive cash around Africa, Mukuru prides itself on providing such a service through its pioneering KYC (know your customer) processes. Working closely with industry regulators across Africa, Mukuru has consistently been at the forefront of innovation in customer verification and onboarding, greatly expanding migrant worker access to industry leading financial services, from which they would otherwise largely be precluded.
Prospective users can register for an account through Mukuru’s vast network of roaming customer service agents, information centres and select strategic partner channels, or online via Facebook and WhatsApp. Once registered the customer can create their money transfer order via Mukuru’s call centre, assisted in their own language, perhaps even by someone from their hometown, or via a self-service channel – WhatsApp, USSD or website.
In turn, Mukuru prides itself on displaying its fees and the exchange rate of any money transfer transparently to its customers; trust is paramount.
Satisfied with their quotation, the sender then adds a recipient by completing their name, address, phone number and potentially their bank details, pick up location and/or card number to receive the payment, depending on the chosen recipient collection method – cash collection, bank transfer, mobile money wallet or cash to card.
Once the necessary details are confirmed, orders can then be conveniently settled via an extensive network of over 40,000 physical payment locations across the continent using cash, Mastercard and Visa credit or debit cards, as well as online via bank transfers/ EFT, or via instant transfers from Mukuru’s own prepaid card product. Once settled, Mukuru processes the order through an instant, electronic transfer of funds or delivery of a cash collection voucher to the recipient’s mobile phone, depending on the chosen collection method. Cash collection vouchers are redeemable nationally in a chosen country, from a similarly rich network of Mukuru and partner pay-out locations, with recipients required to present the voucher number and a valid identity document on collecting their funds.
“We walk the journey with our customers in getting them signed up, registered and sending money, using our tech solution that enables them to create orders on mobile phones using both basic 2G or smartphones,” explains Jury. “They can choose to settle their order voucher directly with us at one of our branches, or at a partner retailer, bank or registered agent that accepts a bill settlement of the order on our behalf.
“We keep our customers informed throughout the process so that they are well aware when their funds are available for collection right through to the time when they have been collected and the transaction concluded.”
“Additionally, we undertake initiatives like actively partnering with the Malawian consulate in South Africa in its community building and social cohesion efforts, from sponsoring netball and football tournaments to facilitating a choral competition for Malawian affiliated church choirs.”
These efforts, while hugely beneficial to those who it impacts, only begin to highlight the company’s wider role as a socioeconomic stalwart.
CSR aside, the business actively employs local people, both out of logic for communicating with its clients effectively and in order to further its ‘Afri-can’ agenda.
Jury continues: “Afri-can is the spirit of Mukuru. We were founded on the desire to solve personal problems that were shared across an increasingly growing customer set. Our staff live the adage of ‘Mukuru, we are you’ daily and most of them are customers themselves.
“Our business has been bootstrapped up off the collective inputs of dedicated individuals who believe in our primary goal of achieving diaspora-led financial inclusion, and have gone significantly beyond the extra-mile to do so. Our primary assets are our people and the self-motivating momentum we’ve been able to build up over time.
“We place a lot of emphasis on hiring to ensure that we continue to influence the Mukuru orange energy positively!”
The sky is the limit
All of the aforementioned combined, Mukuru is set for perpetual progression as it moves through the remainder of 2019 and beyond.
In terms of investments, the business will be focused on improving its KYC processes, putting more control into the hands of its customers and bolstering its processing
technology to make transacting faster.
Investments in WhatsApp as a customer transaction channel have also come to fruition in recent times and will be pursued more actively looking ahead, providing improved accessibility to its services.
“We like to think of ourselves as having orange energy coursing through our veins, which encapsulates a self-starting attitude, the desire to make a meaningful difference in the lives of our customers, the ability to make a plan and get things done in a world in which a one-size fits all approach doesn’t work,” states Jury.
And through this outlook, the CEO remains optimistic about the ultimate potential of the African financial services and remittances industry. He adds: “From a collective formal market perspective, we have only just scratched the surface.
“Trust is key, but if we can continue to demonstrate to customers that they will do well by trusting us with their money then the degree of possibility is only limited by imagination.”