South African fintech startup, Invoiceworx will now be known as Zande Africa after a rebrand in line with its expansion strategy.
Invoiceworx is a working capital financing company founded by Siya Ntutela and Mdu Thabethe in 2015 with the aim of providing access to inventory and purchase order financing for small businesses. Its USSD technology allows the owners apply for credit, check outstanding balances and make payments using their phones.
It has now rebranded to Zande Africa, which Ntutela said fit with its strategy of multiplying its service offering to other regions in South Africa and beyond. The name “Zande” itself means “to grow” or “to multiply” in Nguni languages.
“The old name did not explain or give an idea of what the business does, most people actually thought we were an invoicing software for spazas,” Ntutela said. “Our plans to expand into Kwamashu in the next few months clearly align with our strategy of being in every township that needs the service in the next five years. The rebrand is also a means of us re-introducing the business as a South African startup assisting spaza shops.”
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A spaza shop is an informal convenience shop business in South Africa, usually run from home. They also serve the purpose of supplementing household incomes of the owners, selling everyday small household items. “There is poor data visibility on purchasing and payments behaviors of spaza shops in South Africa, and our solution seeks to mine the data and further use this data to offer better solutions to the informal sector. This data will in future assist corporates and big banks in coming up with better inclusive solutions for the informal sector,” said Ntutela.
Zande Africa has warehouses in Ermelo and Nelspruit but is set to increase this number with plans of expanding its first-mile delivery and payment solutions offerings to spaza shops in and around KwaMashu, KwaZulu Natal. “The new name better reflects our business and our evolution into mobility and scaling of the business. We are now ready to fundraise to boost the speed of our growth” said Ntutela.
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