Mama Money, an homegrown South African startup launched today hoping to save immigrants and refugees living in South Africa up to 270 percent on their remittance when sending money
to their countries.
Mama Money claims to be the world’s first social business for remittances and seeks to use the internet and cell phone technology to make sure money is sent at the lowest possible cost.
In a post by Disrupt Africa, the co-founders, Raphael Grojnowski and Mathieu Coquillon claims the company was established to compete with already established money transfer companies, using the internet at lower cost and charging a no-hidden fee on the exchange rate.
“At Mama Money, we approach things quite differently. We want to create a business that tackles a social problem, the high cost to send money home for low-income earners. As a business, rather than just being driven by profit, our model is to be profit-minimising. Also, if the entire market reduces its commission costs to our level, then we have achieved what we set out for,” they said.
Also, the business is said to focus specifically on Zimbabweans living and working in South Africa during its first phase, while offering immediate transactions, and eliminating the need for cash.
“With 1.9 million Zimbabweans living in South Africa, the first phase for Mama Money is to focus on the South Africa – Zimbabwe remittance corridor,” said Coquillon.
The startup has partnered with leading Zimbabwean financial institution CABS, a subsidiary of Old Mutual, to provide remittance services on the CABS Textacash mobile banking platform.
By simply registering through a Mama Money Agent, customers are able to send money online using their cellphone to relatives’ mobile wallet accounts.
