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Q&A: Kariuki Gathitu, Changing Kenya’s Mobile Banking

Q&A: Kariuki Gathitu, Changing Kenya’s Mobile Banking

At 28, Kariuki Gathitu may seem young to have founded a hot Kenyan IT company, Zege Technologies. But this Kenyan had his own computer early in life, “when they were just a phenomenon,” he said. And it didn’t hurt that his father was a pioneering computer scientist in Kenya.

Gathitu’s company, Zege, creates solutions in the mobile money arena and related services in banking and finance. Gathitu is the company’s lead system architect and software developer. A graduate of Kenyatta University with a degree in computer science, Gathitu gained experience in the IT industry with online media and also in the banking sector. He developed a mobile payment management system for banks and other organizations that manage collection and distribution of money via mobile money providers.

Later he worked on the development of M-KESHO, considered a revolutionary mobile banking product. M-KESHO is a financial service linked to Safaricom’s M-PESA (mobile-phone money transfer and microfinancing service for Safaricom and Vodacom) in Kenya.

Gathitu was also part of a team at Equity Bank, where he implemented the bank’s mobile banking platform. He launched Zege in 2010, age 25.

Zege helps businesses and allows people in remote areas of Kenya to participate in the banking system.

AFKInsider chatted with Kariuki Gathitu about Zege and his other ventures.

AFKInsider: How did you become interested in technology?

Kariuki Gathitu: Playing “Prince of Persia”(video game) on my dad’s first-gen 386 (IBM computer) running DOS (operating system that was later replaced by Microsoft Windows)!! (I) had a computer very early in life, when they were just a phenomenon. My father was a pioneering computer scientist in Kenya. Plus I have a very curious mind. I tore part just about everything I came across, trying to find out how they work.

AFKInsider: How did you come up with the idea for Zege?

Kariuki Gathitu: The problem at the time was how to make payments in Kenya work for businesses — especially integration of M-PESA payments (mobile phone-based money transfer and microfinancing service for Safaricom and Vodacom). With this in mind, the basic idea behind Zege is to create technology solutions around financial and business challenges across Africa that leverage on modern technology like mobile phones, Internet and mobile money.

AFKInsider: How does it work?

Kariuki Gathitu: Our product MPayer (a mobile money payment service) allows businesses and developers to tap into multiple payment methods such as cash, Visa and M-PESA while offering them powerful tools to attract, retain and grow their customers.

AFKInsider: What were some of your major startup challenges?

Kariuki Gathitu: The major challenge is capital and traction. We had to pivot a lot before we could settle on a market that was ready for our company and product.

AFKInsider: Does the Kenyan government nurture tech entrepreneurs?

Kariuki Gathitu: Yes, through innovation competitions(and) incubation facilities backed by the private sector. (The government) still needs to do more to enable the startup market to thrive. Right now they are focusing on making it easy for people to innovate. But they also need to focus on how to make it easy for those innovations to become startups and start doing businesses.

AFKInsider: How would you describe Kenya’s tech industry?

Kariuki Gathitu: Vibrant, exciting, challenging and diverse. Because there are many problems to solve through technology, it’s exciting to see the ideas and efforts are executing great innovation. Kenya is the technology hub of East Africa and is positioning itself to become the tech hub of Africa and globally.

AFKInsider: What would you like to see develop in Kenya’s tech sector?

Kariuki Gathitu: More home-grown investors with the appetite to invest in the tech businesses, and mechanism for allowing ideas to grow.

AFKInsider: Do you feel Africa is being more recognized for its tech innovations?

Kariuki Gathitu: Sure. Africa is where you need to be. The growth is incredible and technology is going to drive this tremendously in the next few years. For once great stories are coming out of Africa, not just war, corruption and poverty. Platforms such as M-PESA, MPAYER, Farmerline (a mobile venture offering information access and communication avenues for farmers), MFarm (provides up-to-date market prices via an app or SMS to farmers), Ushahidi (an ope- source venture that allows users to crowd-source crisis information via mobile), just to name a few, are setting up Africa for great success.

AFKInsider: What are some of your plans for the company for this year?

Kariuki Gathitu: We are looking for investment to accelerate our growth. By the end of the year, we will be the most preferred, diverse and integral payment platform for businesses in Africa, whether for online business or normal premise businesses. Our solutions will be making a huge impact in accelerating Kenyan business growth.