Chipper Cash, the African cross-border fintech startup, has launched its services in South African with a freemium peer-to-peer instant money transfer service via its “super app”.
The startup which is already live in Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Nigeria, and the UK; has also made it possible for South Africans to buy, sell or transfer crypto-currencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum and USD Coin), as well as buy and send airtime and data via the app.
Pardon Mujakachi, VP for strategy and partnerships in Africa, believes South Africa is ready for disruption and innovation in the financial services market.
Mujakachi adds that it can take three days for a person in the US to send money to South Africa. Closer to home, moving money from one province to another, or one bank account to the other can take up to 48 hours.
“This is a big inconvenience to customers,” he says. “People end up using informal channels to send money. If you look at the outbound remittances from South Africa, 68% is going through informal channels. Even with the domestic remittances, a sizeable amount goes through the informal channel.
“Our starting point at Chipper is on the domestic remittances. We have built a platform, a super app that allows South Africans to do peer-to-peer money transfers. We want everyone to be financially included.”
