Ozow's Mitchan Adams On COVID-19: Well-positioned South African payments players are coining it

Ozow's Mitchan Adams On COVID-19: Well-positioned South African payments players are coining it

Author: African Tech Roundup March 30, 2020 Duration: 1:32:45
Ozow Co-founder & Head of R&D, Mitchan Adams, joins Andile Masuku and guest co-host & Lettuce Co-founder Simon Dingle for this beefy flagship episode to discuss the current state-of-play in South Africa's digital payments processing scene. Mitch reveals why Ozow is actively recruiting and onboarding new hires right now and explains why the startup is seeing a sharp spike in revenue even as the global COVID-19 crisis continues to unfold. Listen in for actionable insight about South Africa's competitive financial services landscape, and learn why both Mitch and Simon hope that the country and some of its neighbours in the region will adopt open banking regulation a la Europe's PSD2 dispensation sooner rather than later. Mitch is a software engineer who, prior to co-founding Ozow (formerly i-Pay) in 2014, worked at a stockbroking firm— developing and maintaining software which interfaced with Johannesburg Stock Exchange's futures, stocks and bond markets. He also served a stint at Setcom, where his knack for online and card-based payment streams properly took root. To skip all the introductory niceties, head straight to [12:52]. Questions discussed in this episode include: 1) How is Ozow coping with the mandatory national COVID-19 shutdown ordered by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa? [12:52] 2) How might payments processors like Ozow position for long-term success in what is a highly-competitive and increasingly-commoditised digital payments landscape? [23:47] 3) Can open banking-led fintech innovation offer the kind of platform integrity, financial inclusion and system efficiency decentralised cryptocurrency proponents insist blockchain-based platforms like Bitcoin are best positioned to deliver on? [30:57] 4) Is the obsession with building and maintaining walled gardens a prevalent dynamic within the South African banking industry? [44:30] 5) How are mobile telcos shaping fintech innovation in South Africa? [47:28] 6) What unique challenges and opportunities are presented by open banking regulatory frameworks? [53:04] 7) Is fintech startup success possible in South Africa without subscribing to VC-backed hyper-scale, hyper-growth strategy? [1:08:44] 8) In what ways do Mitch and Simon anticipate the world will never be the same again once we recover from COVID-19 crisis? [1:21:05] Resources referenced in this episode: Coronavirus Stimulus Offered By House Financial Services Committee Creates New Digital Dollar by Jason Brett for Forbes Image credit: Ruxipen

For nearly a decade, the African Tech Roundup Podcast has served as a vital listening post for anyone serious about understanding the continent's digital transformation. Hosted by co-founders Andile Masuku and Musa Kalenga, this long-running series moves beyond surface-level headlines to foster genuine, substantive dialogue. Each episode convenes a dynamic mix of startup founders, venture capitalists, policymakers, and established tech leaders, creating a unique space where strategy, critique, and opportunity intersect. The conversations you'll hear are unfiltered and forward-looking, grounded in local realities while maintaining a necessary global outlook. Tuning into this podcast means gaining access to the nuanced discussions that shape Africa's technology, business, and entrepreneurship landscapes from the ground up. It’s less about hype and more about the hard questions, the lessons from both failures and successes, and the collaborative thinking required to build sustainably. If your work or curiosity is connected to Africa's economic future, African Tech Roundup provides the context and clarity often missing from mainstream coverage, making it an indispensable resource for informed perspective and actionable insight.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

African Tech Roundup Podcast
Podcast Episodes
Seyi Ebenezer of Payaza: Bookkeeping is the new black [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:17:49
Episode overview:Seyi Ebenezer didn't come to fintech from a hackathon or an accelerator. He came from KPMG's audit desks and Access Bank's corporate finance floors. These are environments where the numbers had to add up…