Zazuu, Africa-focused Fintech Company, has completed a $2 million raise to build the world’s first non-biased payment platform.
Founded in 2018 by four African-born entrepreneurs, (Kay Akinwunmi, Korede Fanilola, Tola Alade and Tosin Ekolie) Zazuu’s mission is to provide Africans in the diaspora with smart ways to move money.
For African immigrants, life in the diaspora is fraught with inequalities, as systems are designed with biases against them. Otherwise routine activities like growing credit rating or sending money home become herculean tasks, for immigrants who have to overcome institutional biases.
The most recent report from the World Bank, revealed that the global cost of moving money across borders averages around 6.09 per cent of the value of the transaction.
That figure can sometimes get as high as 22 per cent for money sent to African countries. While infrastructural challenges are often cited as a leading cause of the high costs of remittances, lack of transparency among remittance providers is actually the leading challenge, the report from World Bank stated.
Speaking on what prompted them to establish the fintech company, the CEO, Zazuu, Kay Akinwunmi said: “the mission has always been simple for us from day one. Africans have consistently gotten the shorter end of the stick with remittance transactions.
That the primary reason for that was a lack of transparency on the part of the providers. We’re solving that problem by building a smarter way to transfer money.
“With Zazuu, users can search multiple money transfer providers in their region, compare the rates and fees, and then choose who to send money with, at no extra cost.”
While cross-border payments is the pressing problem, the startup also has its sights on other financial challenges faced by immigrants, Akinwunmi said, adding that, “we are more than a payments company. We want a build a better financial ecosystem for Africans in the diaspora. That means, more than just helping people complete transactions, we want to better help them with better access to financial instruments like credit both home and abroad in the future. The aim is to build a completely non-biased financial wellbeing for African immigrants across the world.”
On the recently completed raise which represented a significant step in the startup’s mission to give Africans smart ways to move their money, Akinwunmi said: “we are happy about the specific investors that have joined us on this journey. We are always on the lookout for smart investors who offer more than just money; people who share in the vision of a better, fairer world for Africans. With their support, we believe we can build a more equitable financial services ecosystem.”
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