Pioneering Earned Wage Access in South Africa - paymenow
Welcome to the first episode of The Founder Files where we have 4 guests at once!
Today we get insights from the founders of paymenow, a fintech that has pioneered earned wage access in South Africa.
Learn how they chose private equity over VC to secure the right investor, hit key milestones for early profitability, and simplified an incredibly complex product to unlock growth.
We also dive into hard lessons from geographical expansion and how they turned mistakes into a scalable model.
This episode is packed with insights on scaling smarter, staying lean, and building for success.
Too Long; Didn't Listen? Here's what to look for:
00:00 Introduction
03:51 What does paymenow do?
14:08 The founding story of paymenow
19:44 Challenges in the 0-1 journey
27:32 How does the money flow in the business?
30:22 paymenow’s first investor
48:49 Staying focused on the right thing before breaking even
53:45 Paying school fees when expanding to Namibia
01:02:07 Pros and cons of using a licensing model
01:13:12 Product development approach to deal with complexity
01:25:24 Complexities of having a multinational customer base
01:29:36 Making the app data-free
01:31:42 The future of paymenow
01:34:12 Why paymenow has no COO
How inspiring was this episode?
For more content like this, please
Support The Founder Files:
Follow us on Linkedin, Instagram & TikTok
Leave a comment and a review on YouTube and Spotify
And spread the word with the entrepreneurs in your network!
Connect with us directly:
- Deon Nobrega on Linkedin
- Bryan Habana on Linkedin
- Willem Van Zyl on Linkedin
- Gerbrand Potgieter on Linkedin
- Cameron on Linkedin and on TikTok
Take the first step towards your ideal state of business leadership and personal freedom.
Be the next guest on our podcast
Fill out the form below to apply as a guest.
