0:07 When we started 2015, we were very small
0:10 team. What was started with myself,
0:13 Philip, Benson and Omar and Agra joined
0:16 a little bit later. So we can say five
0:19 people with the idea to bring uh more
0:22 technology, more efficiency into African
0:26 credit space. We had no idea what what
0:29 is Africa. We had no idea what credit
0:32 space really means. And I would say it
0:34 was a very big blessing because we
0:36 [music] had a chance to start from from
0:38 scratch from zero with a with a let's
0:42 say open blank page and and literally uh
0:45 not to be guided by some pre perceptions
0:46 [music] how things should be should be
0:50 working. And because we didn't have that
0:53 history and experience,
0:58 we came with idea to give credit to
1:01 every person who is [music] ready to to
1:03 to to take a credit and and actually
1:06 willing to pay back. [music]
1:14 on 15th June 2015 is when now I joined
1:17 officially and by that time we did not
1:19 have an office. [laughter]
1:21 I was working in a small space in an
1:23 apartment in Mombasa. We were only two
1:27 of us me and a colleague from Denmark. I
1:30 remember very well when uh the day the
1:33 CEO told us that this company I wanted
1:37 to grow to have a portfolio of over $100
1:41 million. I was like what? We've just
1:43 started. We don't have an office. He's
1:47 talking of he's talking big. How can
1:49 that be possible? That night I did not sleep.
1:54 I still remember the small room [music]
1:57 in Mombasa when we started the company
2:00 10 years ago. We were just a handful of
2:02 people doing everything and issuing
2:06 loans to women groups in coastal region.
2:09 um was introduced to Wu in 2017. [music]
2:12 I really liked the idea. I thought the
2:14 underserved if they're given the
2:16 opportunity they will repay and if they
2:28 When [music] we were first able
2:32 to go to a a bank and say to the bank,
2:34 [music] this is what we're doing. this
2:37 is our plan and we want to borrow some
2:40 money from you and uh we managed to
2:43 convince them and [music] repaid and
2:45 borrowed and repaid and borrowed and
2:47 continued to do so. [music] So I think
2:49 that was the game changer. It gave us
2:52 the confidence to [music] say we can do
2:55 it. We can present ourselves to you know
2:57 the formal financial [music]
3:00 institutions without security. We just
3:03 had a small loan book. the values and
3:05 principles which we lay there customer
3:07 [music] first customer centric customers
3:09 our boss I think we have managed to keep
3:13 it and even enhance it so I'm very happy
3:21 [music] I certainly would also want to
3:23 thank our funding partners because they
3:25 were the ones who believed in [music]
3:29 Watu 7 years ago they were the ones who
3:31 helped us to boost the business and
3:32 start growing
3:33 forced us [music] to improve our
3:36 governance structures, our product,
3:38 implement consumer protection measures
3:41 [music] and they made us to be a better
3:45 version of ourselves. It was so amazing
3:49 how team managed to build this startup
3:52 [music] to the scale. How people managed
3:54 to build the team around Kenya and
3:56 beyond in East Africa. [music]
3:58 The DNA back at the time was empower
4:01 entrepreneurs uh bringing border
4:03 community [music] affordable solution in
4:07 terms of finance and uh then it changed
4:09 to [music] smartphone financing another
4:12 chapter uh another turning moment of uh
4:14 building new success [music] story which
4:16 is now transforming the water DNA by
4:19 large so it's amazing to see how we are
4:22 able to adapt in this setup and [music]
4:24 this environment which is not so easy to
4:26 operate in but at the same time It's
4:27 always interesting. Today, I think we're
4:29 knocking on 4 million customers. When
4:31 you look at the number of customers
4:32 we've gained in a relatively short
4:34 period of time, you can understand
4:37 [music] how many people we financed, how
4:38 many lives we we've improved either
4:40 through border finance, tuk tuk
4:42 financing or even phone financing. 40%
4:44 of the people have reported a growth in
4:46 [music] income. So, that's huge. Uh, and
4:48 of course providing livelihood through
4:49 the border borders, which is an income
4:51 generating asset. Tuk [music] tuk
4:52 through an income generating asset. I
4:54 mean, that's very very significant. And
4:56 I think when I look at that, it's it's
4:58 serving the underbanked. So it's a very
5:10 working with Watu has been a very
5:10 impactful [music and clears throat]
5:16 journey. Um Watu has managed to put
5:18 Samsung products in the hands of the
5:20 traditionally unbanked by creating
5:24 affordability. Watu is really at the
5:26 backbone of the 4G [music] migration. A
5:31 lot of uh Watu customers new 4G uh users
5:33 collaboration with Wu has enabled us
5:37 scale faster uh because we provide the
5:40 product and what to provide uh access to
5:43 [music] affordable financing which has
5:46 enabled uh the ease in terms of adoption
5:48 of electric vehicles. two or three years
5:50 ago, EV maybe was [music] going to be
5:51 something that took off and Watu was
5:54 really pioneering in backing us and
5:55 making [music] that transition a
5:56 possibility. They really recognized that
5:58 we needed to invest in battery swapping
6:00 infrastructure [music] in our case to
6:01 enable then the large volumes of
6:03 motorbikes to be to be sold. And it's
6:05 that strategic view [music] that shows
6:07 how we can grow together which really
6:09 been key to our relationship as a dealer
6:11 for Watu [music] and uh being an inclusive
6:13 inclusive
6:16 uh financial. It has really helped me to
6:18 develop my business and it has made
6:20 [music] us to grow from working in
6:23 Nairobi to covering the entire [music]
6:26 country plus plus Uganda.
6:29 >> Wu has been a very supportive partner to
6:31 listen to the dealers and partners.
6:34 [music] Wu respond to their concerns. I
6:35 think that has been the most exciting
6:57 [music]
7:00 our customers, none of this would be
7:02 possible. And obviously our team,
7:04 [music] the 3,000 plus people that come
7:07 in every day, the resilience that they
7:09 have, the creativity that they have, and
7:11 just the get done mentality,
7:15 [music] attitude that's taking us to new heights.
7:27 >> I think we are a disruptor.
7:30 We are [snorts]
7:32 giving access [music] to the next
7:36 billion and we are making a lot of
7:39 change in [music] people's lives.
7:42 Our expansion is not only [music] is not
7:44 only geographical. Geographical of
7:46 course it's a big part and we know we
7:48 know how to do it. We are actively doing
7:53 and we want to grow over all continents
7:55 really really [music] waiting for uh for
8:01 our expansion over the next products and
8:04 um how we can engage our clients [music]
8:13 >> from all of us at Samsung. [music] We
8:16 wish you a happy 10 year anniversary and
8:18 uh in the next chapter we wish you more
8:20 growth and prosperity.
8:22 >> Happy 10 year anniversary Wu.
8:25 >> Happy 10 years anniversary.
8:28 Happy 10y year anniversary Wu. Congratulations.
8:30 Congratulations.
8:34 Happy 10 year anniversary. Wu. Congrats. Happy
8:35 Happy what?
8:36 what?
8:39 >> 10 year anniversary. [laughter]
8:42 >> Happy 10 years anniversary. Watu. Happy
8:45 10th anniversary. Is that different? [laughter]
8:47 [laughter]
8:49 >> Happy 10th anniversary, Watu.
8:52 >> Happy 10 year anniversary to Watu. Oh,
8:54 and we look forward to many more 10
8:55 years. [laughter]
8:56 >> Happy 10 years.
8:58 >> Okay. Happy 10 year anniversary to Watu.
9:00 And we look forward [music] to 10 10
9:02 more happy years. Happy 10 year
9:05 anniversary, Wat. [music]
