Zoona is an African fintech company founded in 2009 with the vision of helping communities thrive.
Since launching, it has created over 2,500 jobs in Zambia and Malawi, empowered over 1,000 entrepreneurs to start their own business and paid close to $10 million in Agent commissions. In 2012, Zoona raised $4 million in an international Series A round led by the Omidyar Network and Accion Fronteir Investments.
African fintech company Zoona has announced that it has crossed an important milestone in its history, but also for mobile money and financial inclusion in Africa.
Since launching in 2009, the mobile payments company has processed over $1 billion in money transfers, bill payments and other financial services through its network of entrepreneur agents.
Zoona develops a fintech platform which enables entrepreneurs to provide mobile money services to unbanked or underbanked consumers. Zoona has been described as bringing the Uber model to mobile finance and remittances industry.
The company’s entrepreneur agents serve more than one million customers every 60 days across close to 1,500 locations. Zoona’s iconic green booths have become a staple across the landscapes of Zambia and Malawi, where it operates.
Mike Quinn, Zoona’s CEO, said that:
“Zoona was born from an idea in a text message. Today we have an important milestone on our journey to become a billion dollar business that helps communities thrive. This milestone is a result of focusing on what really matters: ensuring our customers never bounce at a Zoona agent. We will continue to work tirelessly to achieve this goal by building the most trusted agent network in the market so that people can send and receive money when they need to the most.”
Zoona’s network of agents fulfils and important purpose in emerging markets where financial inclusion rates are low, and there are few ways to safely send and receive money. Lelemba Phiri, Zoona’s Chief Communication Officer, said that:
“As an African business that came up with and African solution to an African problem – we’re thrilled to reach this milestone! It’s a vindication and vote of confidence from our consumers – who have chosen to trust us when sending and receiving money. We are immeasurably grateful for this trust. We are also grateful to our hardworking Agents and Tellers – who make the Zoona experience Real. But most of all, we are thrilled for what this means for financial inclusion and mobile money in Africa!”
Phiri explained that the strength of the Zoona model rests in the over the counter approach – which means customers do not need to open an account, fill in any paperwork, or even have a phone, in order to benefit from mobile money.
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