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Executive Talk
The soft spoken executive shares his insights on success, leadership and entrepreneurship. He talks of how he formed a company from college, recruiting his peers and ultimately impacting lives through his innovations.
The Young Executive With A Midas Touch
O
ne of the great stories in an otherwise bleak time for start-ups in their seminal years is the spectacular riseand continued success of Tangazoletu, a local fintech company based in Westlands, Nairobi Kenya.
The financial technology company with a Swahili name shot right out of the gate upon its launch in 2005 in a college room.Back then, Chris Gathingu would not have envisioned his nascent idea would become a disruptive innovation. And despite the turbulent spell occasioned by start-ups in their formative years, the company has thrived, growing in both influence and clientele as it celebrates its decade in existence. In 2009, he developed a revolutionary mobile banking solutions for Saccos that grew to become SpotCash Mobile Banking. It is now being used by over 60 financial institutions and a key cash cow for Tangazoletu. In 2010,
the company partnered with Safaricom as a local product development partner to innovate and grow M-Pesa. This partnership gave birth to products like ‘Lipa na M-Pesa’a merchant settlement service that handles over Ksh 150 million daily among others. Tangazoletu also developed the finance and payment component of TIBU, a national TB management platform used by the Ministry of Health and funded by USAID. TIBU is in use in all the 47 counties in Kenya.
Chris Gathingu is the founder and chief executive of Tangazoletu. The Kenyan national, born 33 years ago, recalls developing interest in computer and programming as a first year undergraduate student of Computer Technology at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT). Upon graduating in 2007, he had already settled on his career options- to develop his start-up and nurture his entrepreneurial ambitions. He later employed three of his classmates and a marketer. Chris now sits at the
Chris Gathingu, ceo and founder, Tangazoletu.
USD 15 million
Chris now sits at the helm of a company handling over USD 15 million worth of projects. helm of a company handling over USD 15 million worth of projects. In 2014, he was nominated and selected as one of Kenya’s top 40 under 40 men for his business acumen and leadership skills. I recently caught up with Chris to get acquainted with his story, the impact of fintech revolution and what accounts for Tangazoletu continued rise. So you started a company with less than USD 2000 while
in college? A rookie for that matter, how confident were you at the time? “It is interesting how I started out. I was visiting a relative and found out that her water supply had been cut off. We later realised that the postal bill had been delayed and she had not paid in time. It struck me as a problem and I instantly envisioned that I could develop a solution for it,” recalls Chris.
He further says that the opportunity was too perfect for him. “With less than USD 2000 I was able to develop the solution and put the necessary structures. I came up with an automated SMS based platform for mobile phones where companies would send the bills to clients. I sold the idea to a Water Supply company and they were fascinated. I was paid