Kawu is a 5D approach that addresses money transfer, safe expenditure, and savings challenges amongst students. Not having access to money can be daunting for students, especially in an emergency at school, and as well safely managing petty cash. Using Kawu smart cards, parents and guardians can now transfer funds to students. The innovation also offers alternative sources of income to the school staff that acts as money transfer agents.
Gerald was excited because prior to dSkills@EA the team only had an idea, “…but the bootcamp made us rethink the product we were building. We learnt how to segment our market, build revenue models, market research and demand testing.” The bootcamp developed their business knowledge and shortened the time they would have taken to market. “It would have taken us more than a year to launch the business,” concluded Gerald.
They learnt everything about establishing a successful business. Their biggest challenge was having to unlearn what they thought they knew about the business. The Kawu team takes every opportunity to share their learnings both internally within the team and also with other entrepreneurs. They believe that once everyone is empowered then the entire world will do things in the right way because it will be an ecosystem. Kawu is an African solution for Africans by Africans. The goal is to prepare students for better opportunities to access financial services in the future.
In an environment where only two out of ten startups survive beyond the second year, Kawu is on a great trajectory. In two years, their customer base has grown from zero to 30,000 and they have served more than 35,000 schools and created employment for 10 people in the office and over 70 agents in the various schools. “Startups are not for the faint hearted!” quips Gerald.