Johannesburg, 22 September 2021 – Payments and software company Yoco aims to increase its talented employee pool by 200 people within the coming year, after the company recently secured $83 million from both new and existing investors, bringing the total funds raised US$107 million. 

The business is growing fast, with an amazing team of developers, artists, connectors and enablers building purpose-driven careers, which is why Yoco is the only South African company to have been named as one of Fast Company’s Best Workplaces for Innovators 2021.

Expanding financial inclusion through the talent pool

Yoco began with the meeting of minds six years ago when a diverse group of friends from different walks of life came together with the same purpose. All tired of the status quo in an unequal country, their mission has always been to evolve beyond traditional payment methods and revolutionise approaches to solving financial inclusion in South Africa and Africa more broadly.

Before the pandemic, the dominant payment method for small businesses was cash, but due to Covid-19, behaviour has shifted away from this and businesses have to rapidly adapt to this change. 

The company has big plans for seizing this opportunity by continuing to deepen its market presence in South Africa and expanding into Africa and the Middle East region over the next two years.  With over 150,000 businesses on its platform, the goal is to reach at least a million merchants within the next four years. 

“At Yoco, we continue to focus on developing our people and growing our diverse team. We are excited to expand this to talented individuals across EMEA who share our passion and commitment to accelerating the development of our products”, says Co-Founder and CEO of Yoco, Katlego Maphai. 

“Most recently we welcomed Mariam Minhas Mannan, our new Chief People Officer who previously worked at Amazon as the Regional HR Director for the Middle East & North Africa. With skills that drive people strategy, transformational projects and organisational effectiveness, Mannan will be instrumental in leveraging her skills to develop our people and leadership as Yoco grows from strength to strength.  Former National Basketball Association (NBA) Marketing Head, Mmaphuthi Morule has also joined Yoco as Head of Brand.“

Company culture, autonomy, ownership and work-life balance is important to Yoco, and their structure and work environment allow for that. Yoco has already attracted top talent to its executive ranks from companies such as Monzo, Paypal, and Uber, as well as a new chairman of its board in Juan Fuentes, the former Managing Director of Pagseguro, a business that he grew into a $19 billion payments giant in Brazil. 

“We’re incredibly proud of Yoco’s team and culture and it is evident in what the company has achieved. Yoco has always been open to remote-first employees, even before Covid-19 disrupted how we traditionally viewed ways of work. This has allowed the team to thrive even during challenging times, and their tenacity is the cornerstone of our competitive advantage at Yoco!” concludes Maphai. 

The available roles span across, product, data and technology. Roles can be viewed here: https://www.yoco.com/za/careers/