Mkuzo’s story on… bridging tradition and technology for village banking

Mkuzo was born into a multicultural family, with a mother from Tanzania, a father from Zambia, and relatives spanning both countries as well as South Africa. Raised in Zambia, educated in South Africa, and having pursued higher studies in the UK, he brings a truly unique perspective to the challenges he chooses to solve.  On the surface, an academic at heart, excelling in the field of maths and economics, but deep down an entrepreneur at his core.  From selling the latest craze of 'squidgies' at school to his next venture with 'slushies', the young Mkuzo was already learning crucial lessons on profit margins, customer service, and the informal, small-scale realities of running a business early on in his life.

“Back then I didn't really realise what I was doing, I just saw opportunities and took them. I liked fiddling with the numbers and handling the cash.”

With an internship from Stanbic under his wing, and a stint in insurance, Mkuzo’s itch for entrepreneurship resurfaced. He toyed with the idea of Chilimba’s, rotating savings communities where members contribute regularly and take turns receiving the lump sum.  He saw them as a zero-sum game and tinkered with potential ways they could be designed to be more lucrative for their members. A family friend likened his thinking to that of the Grameen Bank. This newfound concept to Mkuzo, of microcredit and group lending quickly took him down the rabbit hole of village banking.

“I went to sit in one of their village banking meetings. I was taken aback, this was a lot of cash to be handling. Their spreadsheets captured everything. A very unique system, extremely tight and systematic, it made complete sense… and it worked.”

With family and friends onboard, Mkuzo started his first village banking group, which successfully earned an average interest of 29% by the end of its first cycle. While completing his Economics degree, this side passion project proved the initiative's merit. Followed by a moment of pause brought on by Covid-19, on deeper reflection Mkuzo was grappling with how he could make village banking easier to manage. He imagined a consolidated platform for payments, accounting, security, regulation and governance.  ComGrow, an end-to-end platform for village banking, was born. 

Mkuzo soon realized that his choice to be a fintech founder over an investment banker meant committing to a tougher path, building from the ground up. This involved raising capital, building a team, endless license applications, and a lot of frustration, time and effort spent fighting the quest to promote saving, responsible lending, and community wealth through the ComGrow platform. This challenge was never a solo endeavor, and Mkuzo humbly acknowledges the collaborative effort behind what they built. He recognizes the strong, particular role he played in managing the team to execute the vision for their users, leading the product rollout by distributing and engaging with their early-stage users. Remarkably, some of those early users maintain a strong connection and remain avid users of the platform today.

In the entrepreneurial journey that has its inevitable dips and peaks, Mkuzo reached a notable milestone, ComGrow was the first company admitted into the Bank of Zambia fintech regulatory sandbox. Uptake grew and with support from various entities such as The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) and the Ministry of Technology and Science in Zambia, this bootstrapped business was able to keep its mission alive. Despite doing the best he could with what he had and knew at the time, Mkuzo found himself in a challenging position: trying to raise money while waiting for their license. With his hands somewhat tied, he took a bold step to keep ComGrow his priority whilst working on the side as a sales representative for an emerging B2B startup. What he didn't realize at the time was that this decision would expose him to crucial insights on running and approaching business, and the opportunity to hone his sales skills—lessons he could apply to his own venture.

“I learnt what it meant to be in a properly functioning startup (if that is such a thing!). They were ahead of us in their journey: properly functioning systems, a bigger team, generating revenue that allowed them to grow sustainably. It was incredible to see. An eight month stint that changed everything for me. I knew deep down I was not done and I now had the tools ComGrow needed to give it that one last push.”

ComGrow enters a new chapter, hundreds of regular users with the number of transactions compounding as the journey unfolds.  Mkuzo is on the brink of an upward trajectory for the ComGrow business with growing needs from his users for additional capabilities from a platform that helps manage their community savings.  Mkuzo has a strong vision for the business: to be the number one platform to go to ‘bank with your people’.  The future? A village banking platform that goes one step further and facilitates spending within the ecosystem in the truest sense of community, much like how a typical marketplace functions.  

Charismatic, curious, self-motivated, not afraid to try something new, with the ability to both laugh at himself and be serious when needed, Mkuzo is leading the charge in bringing this vision into reality. Just ask a ComGrow user; they'll quickly tell you the real-world difference he's making.

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