 Welcome back to the YouTube channel to your favorite village boy Mr Ghana baby right here and I'm back again with another eye opening episode and you know what you need to do for me make sure you like the video can we get 10,000 likes on this video I feel like I need to force you all to like this video and don't forget to share because what I'm bringing you today it's something that I've never ever done before being an African content creator who is on a journey to celebrate African excellence I've always wanted to see Africans trading among themselves because that is the only way that money can circulate among Africans I've done episode about Africans who own real estate I've done episode about Africans who owns farms which means that you can buy your product from them you know what but it's one thing that I've never ever done which is fintech because I never knew that Africans also own fintech company so I was doing a research and I found out that the fastest growing fintech company in Africa is actually in Ghana so I decided to reach out to them and the CEO actually said Maya come because I would love to speak with you you know what I never knew that the fastest growing fintech company is actually owned by a Ghanaian well yes we're actually the fastest growing African fintech with a Maya so it's not just Ghana I'm so sorry you're welcome with a Maya how did you do it you know before I get to know how you did it I just want to say this yeah you know I've traveled within Africa a lot and a lot of people normally says that it's not possible in Africa but you're one of the people that represent it's possible no it's more than possible for us Africa is not just it the end but Africa is a starting point we're going into Caribbean we're going to Latin America our office in London is designed to properly that part of the world we believe that global dominance it's for us this is the main this Africa has a last frontier when the last imagine market as a mark as a frontier market you can only go so we're growing we're putting the flag everywhere it's a nationalistic story it's an African story anytime we mounted ZPA flag as you saw outside we also mount country flags of where we are what does ZPA really I think for me ZPA represents the African it represents the indigenous Africans that have come together to build a new story that would empower the rest of us ZPA it's actually a mobile money wallet legislated and regulated by Bank of Ghana and of course by act of parliament in Ghana we compete with MTN et al for the phone and it's a national pride that an indigenous company can rise to do that a lot of time as you and I know it's difficult to rise from the ashes but like the phoenix we rise every day we get hit in the struggle against injustice privileges we still rise we we today we are that wallet that is the alternative wallet because we're agnostic and therefore you can use us on MTN et al or Vodafone telco lines but tomorrow will be the mainstream wallet because you don't have to pot to use our wallet and the one will become the mainstream wallet the world is only our oyster we started last year July and already we have about 970 thousand active users on a 30-day transaction basis and we'll go we believe we'll go we won't stop going what really driven to grow ZPA is my wife she's called Zoe so ZPA is actually Zoe it's also the life of God of the Zoe life of God why would you name your company as your wife's name okay so I can say that I've always been a corporate person I'd married fresh it was I was fresh in marriage but I was driven by my bedding and my passion to move on and they're talking about somebody whose name was at its carpark when I got to office my name was at the carpark so I had to do a lot of convincing to my wife that it would be safe for me to move on and when she finally agreed that I can quit my job and do this then I said okay why well in return I would also name this after you she risked a lot that's a lot of risk I mean moving from a certain pay grade to come into a point where now you're gonna end so little or nothing at all and I didn't take a salary for almost three years she was always beside you she was beside me wife will represent behind every successful man as a woman not all of them I guess the initially didn't look real then the more really got the more she believed the story and so that's also made it wrong real today she loves the brand more than I even love it to be quite frankly she represents the brand I would love to speak to your wife she's a lawyer actually very successful she's very successful I mean my wife is I respect her my name is Zoe teacher up here all right I hope he did not meet you I mean because he was into banking so being a lawyer that's why I just a pocket lawyer you know I find it out when we're working together our relationship is very professional I'm also on the board of ZP and I don't let the fact that he's my husband get in the way of our work I'm very hard on him when it comes to you know meeting targets and he's very hard on me when it comes to deliverables as well so I think we have a very good professional relationship and we try not to let personal relationship get in the way how proud are you knowing that your name actually represent the company ZP I don't know it's such an honor honestly I don't know I never realized how far the company would go we always had a big dream that you know this would be big but now you know the levels to which the company has reached is just so awe-inspiring and it's an honor you know he told me that he convinced you I was going through a mind when he was convinced that you know what it's gonna work was going to your mind I mean Andrew's always been very unconventional you know and he has so much drive and passion for what he does I don't think it took too much convincing but I just knew he would succeed at it I knew he would do it well because he was so passionate about it I bought into his idea very quickly because we had a few experiences with you know using cards and and cash and all the difficulties that come with that so it's something that you know I knew would do well but at the time we he had like a full-time job and you know I worried as to how he would combine both because it's the sort of work that you have to be sort of dedicated to so yeah initially I was a bit concerned as to how he would combine both but when you know when you know scared when you quit his job it was a bit daunting I must say it was it was scary at first but I knew he'd be fine I knew we'd be fine you know you know there's something that I really want to understand now why did you decide to support your husband because I feel like there's so many women out there who needs to hear from you especially young African women you know there's this thing that people want to marry rich and people don't want to be part of a success so if you have a message yeah to young female out there who that message be you know once you get married well this is my mindset and you once you get married you're a unit you're one right and if he succeeds I succeed and Andrew has always been so supportive of my dreams he's there are no words to describe you know how supportive he is so it's only natural for me to replicate and I know that there are some women who worry that you know once their husbands become successful you know he might sort of leave them for why are you worried I'm not worried I'm not worried I mean Andrew is a very good man like I said that what he's shown me of himself even from when he's consistent you know he's very consistent he's very selfless and so he doesn't do anything to give me second thoughts or to worry about him at all and he's also a very prayerful person I know he puts gold first in everything he does so I think that's my security knowing that God is paramount in his life and even when I'm not there to see what's going on you know that because of his relationship with God he's always very careful about what he does in his interactions you don't advise young women what's my advice I think if you come to a situation with a good heart positive things come out of it you know sometimes when you go into a relationship or into a venture always with doubts with fears then you start to take decisions that you know may not benefit you in the end so if you come to a situation with an open heart and with honesty I think it will go a long way so if you're in a relationship if you're in a partnership with anybody and they have a dream if you know the partner that you're with and you trust the person that you're with you should always support their dreams I just want to thank you so much for talking to me and I really appreciate your time thank you listen it seems that you're telling me a lot about Z-pay but you're not telling me a lot about you is it because I've not asked you any question about yourself tell me who are you I guess I'm Z-pay you know Z-pay but definitely there's a brain behind Z-pay and you are the brain and you want to know the brain behind Z-pay that's why you want to know your story well look I'm a humble African I'm Z-pay when I conceived the idea of starting Z-pay I had a corporate job I've always been a corporate person I came back home to start my career as a brand manager from Nescafe where were you I was a Nestle working as Nescafe I was part of it you said you came back home oh from America from the US were you born and raised in Ghana born and raised in school in Ghana school in Ghana what point did you leave Ghana to to all so to go to my university degree undergrad postgrad so undergrad I did in the UK postgrad I did in the US I went to UCLA and then I came back and I worked for Nescafe I used to sell coffee I was a coffee and confectionary brand manager I mean what was going through your mind living America coming back home well everybody around me thought I was crazy because I guess it's a promised land right nobody goes and it is really it's a good land I tell you America is a good land but I also felt like though other fortunes I had of me that I would only get if I came home and my dad was very instrumental of course then I also got a job Nestle gave me a job the idea to do Z-pay has always been there it's for me it's almost spiritual it's almost like the day dropped in my spray they never left okay I told you the last time this is this is where was Beth actually so in 2008 October we were in South Africa closing a deal and we thought look can we build an independent platform that is independent of the telcos I've still compete for the telcos on mobile man at the time was called Fundamo and today we've done it when I started I used to have it in my I had my servers in my guest room and I have to wait for my wife to go to work so I can turn on the generator before I go to work because I cannot afford the system to be down today fortunes have had it God has been merciful were huge one 20 countries in Africa were 10 registered offices and we're 14 markets very active I because is our second largest market were the biggest and I because for aggregation purposes were the biggest in Ghana for remittance aggregation mobile money we're going we continue to go we know that we can only go to the top he that is down me fear no fall and then also with with my wife and God you know with the Maya I started this journey in 2008 but I did not manifest it until 2016 so you can imagine the journey even licensing I remember applying for a license in 2017 June and we didn't get a license to March 2020 it's a journey and it's been a very painful journey but all along every step of the way God has been there and I think for me the story I'm telling Africa in Ghanian says we Africans can do it we Ghanians can do it actually we do not need money to do it we just need to create a belief story you know I really want to know through this journey who was the major challenge said and I'm the pay well first of all we need start like this we look grandiose and beautiful today but we started as a dot a little dot so the first thing I remember my colleague wonderful lady the first employee was me of course the second employee was a draw a colleague of mine a very different my journey so she I was quite scared she said look we got to start you've done all those investment you've come to this point just take the risk it was quite humbling because that's my first day after out of work so she was a second employee so I had to take a second job so lucky for me one of my investors wanted me to help them with a platform they had so that's my first job so I would do that from morning to about 4 p.m. then I went from 4 p.m. to about 11 p.m. at Z-bay so that was the story and I get paid so I get paid on the 25th they all get paid on the 27th and that that that was a story and sometimes my wife would look at me and ask okay are you sure about this I gotta work out so yeah we believe that we kept at it when we moved into airport literally our income is $2,000 our rent is $2,000 but the good thing is a payroll was just about three four hundred dollars because obviously the company was in pain so what do we do we had an arrangement without landlord such that we pay rent every 30 days so in that way we're able to have some for patients and be able to have some for in the following month the more challenging it becomes the stronger you are a lot of us just don't realize that but actually the darkest eyes before dawn so the challenge hits then you rise location you face it then after that the dawn sets in with all the challenges that you've been through there should be one quote that drives you what is that code so for me I think for me mine is my fear as my only courage my fear is my only courage you know the fear that our fail gives me the courage to pursue the fear that our our head gives me the courage to be strong my fears money carries that it's a narrative I keep telling you do you have to create a belief system let your fear be your courage don't let your fear hold you back because you see at the point of break or at your point break it's not your fear encompasses you and takes the best of you or you overcome it and you become invincible you see so everybody needs to find their prep point break I say we all need to find our deals and we need to break that out you must live your life to break that audio as they say all die we die our Ganyan's really embracing zip hey well more than embracing so last year we served 2.2 2.3 million remittance receivers this year we've sent three million point two remittance receivers if you go to New York what household name if you go to Nebraska where household name in London what household name in Ghana on our wallet side today we have about 972 980,000 users we started in July last year so clearly that's a testament of interest we'll continue to go and we're grateful to the people of Ghana how does it work if somebody doesn't know this how does it pay what it's right simple there are two there are two things on ZP there's a mobile money and then there's a remittance so we ride a twin engine program remittance then mobile wallet for remittance for it to work it's quite simple just go online look for any of our partners money grams small world money trans but I've so many well about 50 old partners both small companies local companies will really change your narrative abroad especially in the UK and Europe use that select ZP and pay into your wallet or you can even actually use that channel to pay to third party on the mobile money it's very simple just down start to 7 0 hash and you can self-register but actually the only platform you can do yourself on board them do you have an app we also have an app it will be it's on and play store we just taking off but it's coming back again but quite frankly everybody loves the ussd quite we came into market initially as an app we went back because realize everybody loved the ussd this is my favorite part of this whole video I want to know yeah do you think it's worth it for Africans to invest in another African country I think it's more than worth it you see one it's a testament that Africans we believe in ourselves for any company to buy or invest in another company it's because they have economic rent economic rent is the excess of what you have that's what foreign companies and foreign nationals also have income to buy from us in Africa so if we have an economic rent the why don't we build another African country or another African country and it also affirms that indeed we're true frontier company we're true frontier market so does it mean that you have people from different African countries working in here yes all we do we have an Angolan we have of course Zambia we have two Zambians we have and somebody from French West Africa Ivory Coast actually we even have an Italian up here working yes that's amazing so in total how many people work for you so we're about 80 and 50 direct stuff and then about 30 contract stuff do you believe that Africa is the future I believe Africa is the future Africa is the now and let me explain to you why I keep turning us and imagine my is a last imagine frontier market but it's one of the few ones that is endowed at every with natural resource but beyond that post the pandemic what you're going to see is a your generation and I we don't see the the borders anymore we believe in the visible economies where we can move around like you do you get up you move to Namibia you do a program you move to Zambia you do a program it's because you don't see the borders anymore they become invincible our generation who are born into the digital economy would even more so actualize Africa quicker than our parents ever thought about so you're going to see a lot of intra Africa migration well you're going to see a stop going by the boat and the river to abroad we're going to do it within our communities we're going to have a new acceptance culture don't forget the guy who's in Mozambique knows what happens in Ghana using internet data that same spirit means that we're ready to build our Africa the Kwamekoma Africa is now and it's not going to be government-led it's just going to be private sector individuals like you and I led you know and that today what you and I are doing is giving them another belief story that their dreams can be met and they can come true and I guess because of what you just said you definitely have a message for all Africans watching us what would that message be I'm I think with the mile saying don't give up don't wait for government don't wait for anybody rise and when you rise men and women will follow you some will come and give you money some will come and give you a supporting kind but just believe in yourself don't wait for anybody to encourage you don't wait for anybody to believe in you get up and believe in yourself when you hear me take a pen and paper which is why three things you want to achieve and put now now now don't put 20 25 on it and just get up and do it and ask you start you be amazed how life and nature and God will bring it into being for you it's amazing with the man for me that's my story and it's a real story and everybody who works with me that's their story we all came from different places with nothing and we've come together to build something exciting and we're proud of it corporate or entrepreneurship why entrepreneurship so I'll pick entrepreneurship not because I have freedom to be my boss I'll pick entrepreneurship because you empower me I'll pick entrepreneurship because just out of that vision you touch the lives of many that's what we're here today every time I've watched you is because you touch the lives of other people if I sit in corporate I'll be a great guy I'll probably be a managing director about be very busy looking at KPIs when I take entrepreneurship my learning curve is vast you know since you chose entrepreneurship I need to ask you this question we all went to school but we never had that entrepreneurship mindset I believe that this is the problem of the youth of Africa do you think there's something wrong with our education system oh first of all it's an interesting question that's a question that many ask right let me answer you by answering you in another way then I'll answer you again it's right interesting though so what I want to go to America the US system makes you feel you can build the world I today I understand why Americans are who they are right because a system it teaches you to build the world then it reaffirms to you that you are capable your professor does this every day we have what we call visiting professors they come from industry to academia to teach us even your project you do when you're doing a consulting project is real it's like I think the time has come for us to look at the education system again in the digital economy we learn as we go our parents they learned then they implemented do you see what I mean we didn't know you were saying they're not true and poor in our economy that we are in when a digital economy you and I will learn as we go so we need to unlearn to learn and then relearn to succeed and our leadership which is you and I have to find programs and ways to help the youth to unlearn to they can learn and we learn to succeed and we need to bring that model back into the classroom if you had a chance to change one thing in Africa or that day if I had a chance to change anything in Africa the only thing I would change is the people believe in yourself I just preach one message believe in yourself you see the time has come for we Africans to believe in ourselves the time has come for Africans to realize that we do not need to look like someone to be able to succeed we need to move away from the concept of you know that that new colonization concept that we need to come to the new African concept the new African is I believe I can and I will maybe Obama of epitomized it by yes we can but that's that's the story you see the new African it doesn't matter what school you went to and it doesn't matter what family you belong to what matters that you can get up right the three things you want to do and start doing it now I'm telling you with the mile that's all you need to do and I will say that it's by force to support Z pay I mean I'm not a brand number set up for Z pay but I'm just telling you that I want to endorse Z pay so each and every one out there if you are in Ghana start 270 hash register Z pay now I just want to say thank you so much for talking to me and I really appreciate your time I want to be a full good working doing with your mind