As next-generation financial services platform Mukuru (https://www.Mukuru.com) marks the major milestone of being in business for 20 years, FCX Intelligence has announced that it has made the list of Top 100 Cross-Border Payment Companies for the fifth successive year. The award goes a long way in demonstrating how Mukuru has remained relevant for two decades while still innovating to remain so in the future.

FXC Intelligence is the industry leader in cross-border payments data and intelligence. FXC Intelligence founder and CEO Daniel Webber says: “Mukuru's presence among the Cross-Border Payments 100 for five consecutive years underscores its dedication to providing innovative financial solutions across borders. Its commitment to leveraging technology and fostering financial inclusion has positioned it as a key player in the industry, recognised by FXC Intelligence for its impactful contributions.”

Mukuru’s CEO Andy Jury says the recognition is validation of the business’s customer-centric and solution-oriented approach. “It is humbling to be recognised in the company of many esteemed businesses that have been in existence far longer than us. These businesses have transformed the financial services landscape globally. It is testimony to the hard work we have put in collectively, which we call the orange energy coursing through our veins - a metaphor for the passion to grow and deliver value to our customers.”

Despite being named on the list for five straight years, Jury says that Mukuru is not static and in its 20th year will continue striving towards reaching more customers in more markets. “While the recognition is great validation of our approach and vision, we really feel that we have only scratched the surface and our work is still in its infancy. Our orientation is to continue to focus on how we can scale our business, how we can solve problems for our customers, and how we can partner with many of the other esteemed businesses named on the top-100 list to continue to improve the lives of our customers.”

Jury says that one of the key ingredients to remaining relevant for 20 years has been the entrepreneurial spirit that forms part of Mukuru’s DNA. “In an emerging market environment you are always confronted with new challenges. You simply cannot rest on your laurels. There needs to be a perpetual focus on solving challenges and addressing customer problems. This has kept us true to our mission, and young and entrepreneurial at heart. It means we focus less on yesterday’s success because our focus must be zeroed onto what’s coming over the horizon,” says Jury.

Looking back, Jury believes that because the business was founded with a single use case it was able to build scale and runway to develop into the successful financial services platform it has become. “We started with a fairly deep but narrow challenge. That was remittances. This enabled us to build scale without needing to manage the complexity that comes with multiple geographies and customer types. It was an homogenous focus on a single problem that was built in a modular way to be re-used in new use cases. That efficiency meant there was value coming in through the front door so we could bootstrap ourselves up off of that,” he explains.

Jury says that this focus was vital over the past 20 years as Mukuru bootstrapped itself without the benefit of outside funding in its formative days. “We have had to remain focused and learn to prioritise because we are a business that has always paid for ourselves. We needed to generate value to keep the lights on and continue growing. This ensures a sharp focus, especially in head winds.”

Shifting his gaze to how the business has evolved from a remittance business to a next-generation financial services platform, with various financial products and services for different customers in different markets, Jury says the modular approach birthed in the early days – of developing solutions for similar but slightly different customer bases and then expanding that network in terms of geographical reach and associated accessible markets –  enabled this.

However, despite this, Jury believes that a fintech’s success is directly proportional to how it listens to its customers and addresses their needs. “What was very important to us from day one with five customers to today with more than 16-million customers hasn’t changed. It is the notion of walking in the shoes of our customers: Understanding their needs, wants and challenges and then building solutions to address those as opposed to starting with a nice shiny product and then trying to force it onto a customer base.”

With the knowledge and insight that comes from being at the helm of a 20-year-old business that is growing and continually deploying new products and services, what advice does Jury have for fintechs?

The key is focus, the ability to prioritise and an understanding that everything must exist in a sense of balance. Focus on what you are good at, focus on the problem or opportunity you are addressing, and don’t forget the customer. Focus on something that has a deep addressable market that is going to allow repeat touch points, and then, very importantly, try not to be too distracted by shiny innovations as they may be just that: distractions.”