A few months ago I did an entrepreneur profile on Rob Burrell, the Founder and CEO of Mukuru. Not too long ago I spoke about Mukuru regarding their shirt sleeve sponsorship deal with EPL team Crystal Palace for the 2022/23 season. Mukuru is a fintech business that gives emerging customers access to affordable and reliable financial services. Mukuru has over 8 million customers and over 300 000, pay-in and pay-out locations around the world. It is incontestable that Mukuru is one of the leading money transfer providers in Africa. Today we are doing a breakdown of Mukuru money transfer charges.
Sending Money From Another Country To Zimbabwe Using Mukuru
First of all, the countries from which you can send money to Zimbabwe using Mukuru are South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Malawi, and the UK. To send money the charge per transaction is 10 percent. Let us suppose you want to send US$100 from those countries to Zimbabwe, you will have to load US$110 for your recipient to get US$100. By the way, the minimum amount you can send is US$20.
Sending Money Within Zimbabwe Using Mukuru
The minimum amount you can send someone within Zimbabwe is US$10. The charge per transaction is 7 percent. This means for someone to receive US$100, you must load US$107.
Checking Rates Or Charges Using The Mukuru Chatbot
NB: You can check in real-time how much you will need to make a transaction. You simply save the following contact: +27 860 018 555 on your smartphone. Then you send Hi to that number on WhatsApp. You will receive a message prompting you to choose your preferred language. Once you are done, you will receive a menu message with 5 options:
- Sign up for Mukuru
- Already a customer – change my number
- Check rates
- Call me
- Change language
(You select the option you want by responding with a message of the option number). So if you want to check the charges you will incur for a particular transaction, you choose option 3. When you choose that option, you will receive a message with a list of 50 pay-out countries. This refers to countries you can send money to using Mukuru. You choose the one you want and will receive a message saying, ‘Prices include all charges and may vary slightly at time of order’.
You will respond with 1 to confirm you acknowledged the message. This will be followed by a message with two options asking you to either enter the USD receive amount or enter the USD sent amount. Once you pick an option, another message comes and you enter the amount. You will receive a message detailing the send or receive the amount, the rate, the charge, and the total payment amount.
Comparative Analysis And Projections
Mukuru has the highest transaction charges for sending money within Zimbabwe. Regardless, Mukuru still commands a significant market share of the money transfer market. Its wide coverage and years of experience are some of its strengths. Plus, just look at these countries that can send money to Zimbabwe: South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Malawi, and the UK. The number of Zimbabweans in those countries that send money to Zimbabwe is sky-high. It is even normal to find Zimbabweans who only know about Mukuru when it comes to money transfer operators.
Given some of the recent fiscal and monetary policy developments there is a high possibility charge might go up. Some people feel that is imminent but that remains to be seen though. If it happens it might create a weird scenario where sending money with Mukuru can become counterintuitive. Currently, those outside Zimbabwe are charged 10 percent to send money here in Zimbabwe using Mukuru. Imagine if charges for domestic transfers go up to that level or even beyond i.e. at least 10 percent. That would create some situations where you would rather travel to deliver the money than send it.
That is what you need to know about Mukuru money transfer charges. Mukuru seems bent on expanding its reach as can be seen from the various partnerships it is getting into. By the way, in case you had not yet noticed, Mukuru rebranded – the logo is now different.
