Katlego Maphai and his Yoco co-founders saw “massive gaps” in the small business infrastructure in their home South Africa, and across the continent.
Helping African small (and micros) businesses accept card payments, something the big banks and payment platforms hadn’t prioritized, would be a transformational opportunity, for small businesses and for the broader economy.
In his powerful talk at the inaugural BigFive Summit in May, Katlego shared Yoco’s vision for enabling SMMEs not only to accept cards but to gain access to capital and the modern tools they need to run their businesses.
“SMEs account for 90% of businesses across the continent. They are driving employment,” Katlego said in his headline talk at the inaugural BigFive Summit. “They are the key to sustainable economic growth.”
To illustrate the extent of the gap and the opportunity, Katlego shared that only 6% of South African businesses accept cards, yet 75% of the adult population has a card.
The inability to accept cards helps small businesses remain small. Card acceptance is a key to moving millions of businesses out of subsistence and into prosperity, or at least a reasonable chance at it.
In this video excerpt from Katlego’s talk at the BigFive Summit, he describes the problem that Yoco identified and set out to solve for African SMMEs.