

Scaling A South African FinTech Company - Thomas Pays, Ozow
Are you working hard enough? A question this episode is guaranteed to make you ask yourself! It's an honour to welcome Thomas Pays. Thomas is the co-founder of Ozow, the South African market leader for account to account transactions. Thomas takes us through the founding story of Ozow and the dark times he endured in the first 2 years. Although he thinks the company is still in infancy, he highlights the companies impressive growth to an 8 figure monthly revenue, but also how far they still have to go. Find out how people and culture has played a significant role in the success of Ozow and how Thomas created a powerful environment for his people to thrive. We also cover what pillars he had in place that allowed for Ozow's growth, having engagements with 296 VC's, and how it led to investments from the best. Enjoy this episode filled with valuable insights into what it takes to be the best.
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This episode is brought to you by Metavolve.
Metavolve turns highly capable African founders into confident business leaders by helping them develop clear and comprehensive business strategies that make building a great sustainable business less complex. Reach out to our team to learn more: https://metavolve.co/
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00:00 Intro 02:23 Welcomes 02:48 Ozow's Business Model 03:24 Where Is Ozow In Terms Of Scale? 07:05 Ozow's Founding Story 11:34 Journey To Product Market Fit 19:13 Rebranding From i-pay to Ozow 24:50 The Very Dark First 2 Years 38:00 Growth After Finding Product Market Fit 44:50 Brought To You By Metavolve 46:13 The Potential Of Ozow 51:40 The Importance Of Partnerships 56:27 Human Capital & Culture 1:25:31 Investments & What They Unlocked For The Business 1:32:35 What Pushes Thomas To Work So Hard 1:35:50 Outro