You probably have heard of a startup called Senditoo. They have been using quite many Zimbabwean social media influencers to market their brand. I will start by doing a synopsis of what Senditoo is all about.

Senditoo Overview

Senditoo is a startup that focuses on providing a cost-effective and secure way of sending money, mobile phone top-ups, and bill payment for your loved ones. This one can do to over 150 countries in the world. It is basically an international remittance service mainly aimed at people living in the diaspora. It was co-founded by Takwana Tyaranini and his Guinean colleague Ibrahim Soumano who is also the CEO. It has 3 investors namely, Jan Petzel, Romain Girbal, and Thibault Launay who also serve as advisors. Their key technology partner is Horion Digital. You can find out more about Senditoo on their website.

Who Is Takwana Tyaranini?

He was born near Masvingo in 1984 and grew up in Kadoma, Rimuka to be precise. According to his LinkedIn profile, he says, “I am a Co-Founder of a very cool airtime transfer startup Senditoo (www.senditoo.com). We have built a platform to help everyone stay connected with their family & friends and to send instant credit to mobile phones worldwide. I was instrumental in the creation of this innovative service and brand which offers one the largest coverage with over 400 mobile operators worldwide for a reach of 4.5 billion prepaid users. Specialities: Start-ups, entrepreneurship, financial services, marketing, brand strategy, marketing management, leadership, advertising, creative, driving return on marketing investment, trust, design, people development, product management, team development & capability building.”

How Senditoo Came To Be?

He Lost His Job

A few years ago Takwana Tyaranini was working as a mental health practitioner in the United Kingdom. This is a profession that he undertook for a good 15 years but unfortunately lost his job. After losing his job he decided to pursue a different path. He set out to work on an idea that he had mused on for a while. In his own words,

“I lost my job and found myself never wanting to depend on employment. That’s when my business partner Mr Soumano insisted we form a 50-50 partnership and as they say, the rest is history.”

His idea was encapsulated in something he once said:

“For many people living and working away from their home countries — especially in our native continent of Africa — one of their greatest needs is to stay in touch with their relatives and friends and to be up to speed with important developments back home.”

That clearly shows us that he realized there was a need back in Africa for people to keep in touch with their loved ones in the diaspora.

His Buddy Realized Something Also…

Sometime in April in the year 2015, his colleague, Ibrahim Soumano, visited his home country to see his relatives, in Guinea. He was stunned when he saw the reaction of his relatives and their neighbours when he gave them mobile airtime vouchers. What happened after this incident is best described by what Takwana Tyaranini said:

“Seeing the impact made by that small gift of a few mobile minutes was a light bulb moment for Ibrahim and when he returned to the UK, we immediately tucked into the idea. The result was the birth of Senditoo, which we initially named Ozaremit before rebranding it last October and launching it with a new API that allows us to develop new business-to-business partnerships.”

How Instrumental Senditoo Has Been To Zimbabwe

Evidently, this innovation has brought so much help to Zimbabweans. About 2 years ago Takwana Tyaranini had the following to say, “Senditoo has essentially taken the UK in particular by storm so much that at one point 70 per cent of our transactions were going to Zimbabwe. At the moment more than 30 per cent of our top-ups go to Zimbabwe.”

You can actually do transactions through the Senditoo website. Alternatively, you can download their mobile app. It is available on the Apple app store, click here to download. If you are on the Android platform, kindly click here to download the app. You might also want to know that Senditoo entered a partnership agreement where you can get cash pickups sent to you through any BancABC branch in Zimbabwe.