LEADING remittance and money transfer services provider, Mukuru, has reported robust growth in Zimbabwe in the past few months, defying a global economic meltdown that has seen many countries shutting down economies at various stages this year. BY BUSINESS REPORTER The firm said the growth registered in Zimbabwe was part of an aggressive southern Africa marketing strategy that has seen it extend its physical presence and agency network across the region. The African fintech company said its highly successful deployment of orange booths in the region underscored the true scalability of the Mukuru payment platform. This had been supported by the digitisation of key Mukuru functionalities. “Testament to this impact, Mukuru has seen a 20-fold increase in monthly transactions within Zimbabwe over the past few months, for instance, as well as impressive year-on-year financial growth despite the global economic volatility,” Mukuru said in a statement. About five million Zimbabweans living in the diaspora send over US$2 billion back home per year. “This growth has been cemented by dynamic regional partnerships, and strengthening relationships with regulators, major banks and other remittance and money transfer service providers. Our partnerships continue to be a source of both innovation and steady growth in the region, with our homegrown technology solutions continually evolving to meet the day-to-day needs of our customers. We meet customers wherever they are, which today includes a variety of both physical and digital touchpoints,” the statement noted. “With more and more digital access points over USSD, WhatsApp and the Mukuru App, for instance, customers are becoming increasingly comfortable with things like self-sign up, including digital KYC [know your customer] and on boarding, which is not only raising our brand presence, but is shifting customers that much closer to financial inclusion and higher levels of financial transaction sophistication,” explained Andy Jury, chief executive officer of Mukuru. “As we grow our physical footprint in southern Africa and bring our services to more people by way of booths and an entrepreneurial agency network, this growth is being complemented by the progressive digitisation of key steps in the Mukuru payments process. For instance, since the early days of the global pandemic and social restrictions in South Africa, almost half of Mukuru’s new South African sign-ups have come via digital self-sign up — indicating the appetite and need for such a capability.” He said as a homegrown African fintech provider, Mukuru had underpinned its successful customer engagement strategy with the ability to “speak the language” of its users and gain a grassroots understanding of the unique pain points that customers face in each market. “There is a balance that has to be achieved as a fintech provider that is both ‘high tech’ and ‘high touch’, particularly because Mukuru has been built on top of a homegrown African DNA that has always taken its cue from what customers are asking of us at any give