Meet Nadeem Juma, the Serial Entrepreneur that Developed Tanzania’s First Mobile Banking Platform
Nadeem Juma started making social impact at a quite young age. At the age of 19, he established an international school in Tanzania for the sole purpose of bridging the gap in the market to provide quality education for students and at an affordable rate.
In 2004, Nadeem Juma founded Efulusi Africa a software development company credited for developing and deploying Tanzania’s first mobile banking platform. It basically uses an entirely unique approach to change the way technology is deployed. It develops custom software with a focus on mobile finance apps and aggregation in creating enterprise and business solutions.
The company’s operations focuses on several areas such as: consultancy and business development, mobile operator services, financial institution services and MOBIPAWA commercial agent services among others.
Initially, the company in its early years focused on infrastructure deployments that made use of digital content such as interactive kiosks, motion-controlled projections and installations. But presently, it focuses on being involved in a number of projects including Dar es Salaam International Academy and Efulusi Africa, a research and development company for mobile solutions.
Efulusi Africa is bridging the gap in the payment processes across Africa and providing financial services to the masses, including those located in rural areas representing the banked, un-banked and under-banked communities.
In 2014, Juma founded AIM Group, a leading digital agency in the East Africa for mobile payment solutions and he also founded Mkito, a music download site. Juma recognizes the fact that when it comes to technological and economic development, Kenya, which happen to be Tanzania’s neighbor is way advanced beyond Tanzania.
According to him, “As a Tanzanian, I probably should not be saying this, but we definitely face stiff competition from Kenya that has begun the process of creating a culture for innovation. It also has much more educated working population, so you will often see Kenyans in management positions in Tanzania”. However, he is of the opinion that Tanzania is also putting itself on the international stage through events like TEDx even though it is still in a transitional space.
Nadeem Juma was named by Forbes as one of 30 entrepreneurs to watch in Africa. AIM Group now has 25 employees and has some of Tanzania’s most prominent brands as clients.
