Founder Magazine (FM): Gentlemen, thank you for joining us. Could you tell us how you both met and decided to build a company together?
Kofi Genfi (KG): We’ve known each other since high school. We shared a deep interest in technology, entrepreneurship, and solving problems in Ghana. That bond naturally evolved into a partnership.
Nii Osae Osae Dade (NOOD): Exactly. We realized early that our skills complemented each other—I leaned heavily on the technical side, while Kofi was strong in business development and strategy. That balance became the foundation of Mazzuma.
🚀 About Mazzuma
FM: What is Mazzuma, and why did you create it?
NOOD: Mazzuma is a mobile payments ecosystem that uses blockchain technology to make transactions fast, secure, and borderless. We saw inefficiencies in traditional mobile money systems and wanted to build something more scalable and future-ready.
KG: Today, Mazzuma has onboarded over 300,000 users. We provide payments for e-commerce platforms, APIs for businesses, and even blockchain-backed remittance solutions. Our goal is to democratize access to financial services in Africa.
🌐 About Utopia Technologies
FM: And Utopia Technologies—how does it fit into your vision?
KG: Utopia builds broader digital commerce solutions for emerging markets. If Mazzuma is the foundation of payments, Utopia is the ecosystem that supports commerce, innovation, and scaling digital transactions across Africa.
🌟 Vision & Leadership
FM: What keeps you motivated in the face of challenges?
NOOD: The impact. Knowing that our solutions help small businesses and individuals transact faster and more affordably keeps us going.
KG: And also the bigger vision—we’re not just building for Ghana, we’re building for Africa and beyond.
✨ Closing Thoughts
FM: Kofi and Nii, your journey from classmates to co-founders of groundbreaking fintech startups is remarkable. Thank you for sharing your story with Founder Magazine.
KG & NOOD: Thank you. We’re excited about the future of African innovation, and we’re just getting started.