FOUNDED IN UMHLANGA FROM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS, TODAY IKHOKHA IS ONE OF SA’S FASTEST-GROWING FINTECHS
The digital world is exploding with the rise of tech giants like Amazon, Square, Google, Uber and Facebook. And even though South Africa might be a little behind the curve, we do have some home- grown success stories on our doorstep. Proudly uMhlanga, iKhokha is one of them.
The fintech business was launched in 2012 by KZN entrepreneurs – Matt Putman, Clive Putman and Ramsay Daly – to make it easier for all SME’s in South Africa to accept card payments. North Coast resident, CEO and co-founder of iKhokha, Matt Putman says, “When we started out, getting the business off the ground was really tough and we made many mistakes, but day-by- day we continue to get better.
“We have recently received the accolade of being the top-rated customer service brand in financial services in South Africa by Hello Peter, in a category with over 1 600 mature business brands. We always wanted to build a tech business in KZN that could be competitive nationally – and slowly we’re getting that right. Today we are on-boarding thousands of new businesses monthly, providing millions in finances for SME’s, and processing billions of rands in card turnover for our merchants annually. We are very proud to have built our HQ and team in uMhlanga.
“iKhokha has quickly grown from a small team to more than 110 staff members, but to support our growth, we need to grow our staff complement by 50% in the next six months,” Putman says. “To attract top calibre staff, iKhokha has focused on creating a business that has an informal, collaborative, purpose driven and customer centric culture. Our goal is to showcase what an amazing city Durban is and to make top talent aware that KZN can compete with Johannesburg and Cape Town with regards to career growth and lifestyle.”
iKhokha has already attracted top staff from major businesses, who are thriving in an upbeat, go-getting, positive environment, while enjoying the relaxed uMhlanga lifestyle.
“iKhokha believes that every SA entrepreneur should be given the opportunity to compete in the digital economy. We aim to give them the tools to do just that. We strive to be one of KZN’s big success stories in the future, and hope our fellow Durbanite business owners will support us to help us achieve that goal,” concludes Putman.