Start-up founder, YouTuber, and tech thought-leader Ntsako Mgiba chats to us about why community and innovation go hand-in-hand and what building a continent of tech innovators requires.

You studied Mechatronics Engineering, then founded Jonga – a start-up that aims to democratise access to security. How did that lead you to Yoco?

My journey into tech began when I studied Mechatronics engineering at UCT. Toward the end of my second year, I founded a security company called Jonga. Our aim was to provide access to security for people living in areas where this was previously not possible. After graduating, I worked on growing Jonga, and met a lot of incredible innovators along the way. I spent six years doing that, and then came to the conclusion that I wanted to be part of something where I could learn from people who were a step ahead of me.

When you’re the founder of a start-up, people expect you to have all the answers, but coming straight out of varsity, it was very much a trial and error process. So I wanted to plug into the vision of another strong founder.

Yoco was the company we always looked up to at Jonga, so being here now is super exciting.

And here you are! Tell us a bit about your experience so far?

Yoco’s mission is what I love most about the company. I’ve never been someone who can just do something for the sake of it; it has to have a purpose and fundamentally solve a problem. That was the impetus behind starting Jonga, and it’s been my reason for joining Yoco – it’s a mission that I resonate with.

It’s been an incredible journey because wanting the merchant to thrive isn’t just a cool story to win people over, it’s a genuine desire and drive that runs throughout the company.

With Jonga, we wanted to bring security to communities who’d never had access to safety before; Yoco is doing this in terms of access to financial products and prosperity.

I think breaking barriers to participating in the economy is one of the biggest problems you can solve because once someone can participate in the economy, they can consume so many other products and services that make their lives better.

You’re a Product Manager of In-person Payments specifically. What does this entail?

I’m responsible for the hardware operations of the company, and then also for the new card terminals.

This involves mapping out and streamlining warehouse processes, creating systems and processes to enable Customer Success consultants to troubleshoot hardware-related customer queries, developing of an after-sales support function in conjunction with our product manufacturers, and finally, building tools to more effectively and efficiently manage sim cards. It’s a big scope of work!

You’re passionate about leadership and about connecting people, can you tell us a bit about the network of tech innovators you’ve cultivated?

I’d met Lungisa Matshoba, (Yoco’s Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer), through my organic network, and these connections sparked a desire in me to try to enable the tech ecosystem in the country.

I wanted to try and find a way to connect the dots between different black founders in the country who are doing amazing things but don't necessarily know each other.

I started the community formally last year (in my spare time), and it’s just grown organically. At last count, I think there are about 215 members – people who are doing incredible things, from scaling tech start-ups and raising millions in funding, to those who are in the ideas stage of things.

It’s a space where we can chat about what’s happening in the tech ecosystem, share ideas, and mentor each other via masterclasses and knowledge transfer sessions.

It’s a community of people who’re equally motivated, who’re trying to solve problems, and who share a common challenge: they’re all black in a very white industry. Sharing learnings and insights is a huge passion of mine, and this is one of the ways I can put this passion to use.

You also run a YouTube channel! What’s that all about?

I started my channel two years ago –- it’s still very small with around 920 something subscribers. The whole idea around it was that when I started Jonga at university, a lot of people came to me to ask me questions and advice about their own start-ups, and I realised that a lot of the questions were the same.

I wanted to be able to share my learnings in a way that would make it easy for people to digest and build their businesses off this content because practical, millennial-focused content was hard to find; the majority of content around start-ups is all very mature and theoretical.

I’ve found that the biggest challenge or burning question people have is: “Where do I start?”. So I cover everything from what to do in the early days through to how to go about getting investors on board. I’d like to start bringing some experts and people I’ve met along the way and get them to share their stories. It’s been so rewarding – people have contacted me to say that watching my content helped them to get the confidence to start something, which is exactly why I started the channel in the first place.

You’re a self-confessed optimist: what’s your vision for the future of tech innovation in Africa?

I think that the trajectory is extremely positive and that there's a lot of work to be done. But I really do feel like Africa is up for the challenge.

There are really great companies and innovations coming out of Africa and that's because we have unique constraints. We’re familiar with scarcity, more so than the rest of the world. And that really breeds innovation in my viewpoint.

I genuinely feel like as a generation of Africans, we're extremely passionate about solving these problems. Provided that we can get access to the right resources, we could build the Africa that we dream of.

While more and more capital is starting to flow into the continent, which is extremely promising, it's still going into specific sectors such as Fintech, which is where Yoco competes.

So I think that there's a huge responsibility on flagship companies like Yoco to create value and give value back to investors. Because that will create trust within the larger ecosystem, which will equate to more investment in the African continent.

African entrepreneurs are absolutely amazing because we're not wasteful. We know the value of a rand or a dollar, and we’re able to make it stretch further than anyone else.

And that that's why I really am quite confident that we'll be able to do it.

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We're always looking for innovative African talent to forge the future with us. For open roles in Product Management at Yoco, have a look here and #GrowWithUs.