The South African who went from a CNA floor assistant to creating a multi-billion-rand fintech giant

Matshoba’s entrepreneurial journey began at a young age when he designed and printed business cards to earn some extra income.

Matshoba told Daily Investor that, at the time, he didn’t view himself as an entrepreneurial child. “I just liked building things and solving problems,” he said.

“The business card thing came from that – seeing a need, figuring out how to deliver on it, and learning along the way.”

“Looking back, I guess that mindset was entrepreneurial, but for me, it’s always been about creating and problem-solving first.”

Towards the end of his school years, Matshoba started working as a floor assistant at CNA to get some extra holiday money.

He went on to study Business Science, with a major in Computer Science, at the University of Cape Town. “I’ve always liked creating things. Early on, that showed up through art and design, which tapped into my creative side,” he said.

“But it was software that connected both sides for me – the ability to create, but also to solve problems and make things real and usable. That’s what drew me to computer science.”

Matshoba explained that he was fortunate to have studied Business Science, rather than a pure computer science-based degree, as this allowed him to be exposed to the commercial faculty while still pursuing core software engineering.

He said that mix shaped his approach to building and balancing technical depth with understanding how products end up in the real world.

It was also at university, standing in the queue for enrolment, that Matshoba ran into Katlego Maphai, who had attended aftercare with him as children in Cape Town.

From that day on, Maphai and Matshoba were friends. However, they did not know that they would go on to become Yoco’s future CEO and CFO.

The start of Yoco

Maphai connected Matshoba with Yoco’s two other co-founders, whom he met later in life. He met Carl Wazen, Yoco’s Chief Business Officer (CBO), when they worked together on a project as consultants in Dubai.

Similarly, Maphai met Bradley Wattrus, the company’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), when the two were working on a project together in Lagos, Nigeria.

“Katlego saw a Square card reader being used at a barbecue stand – a small kiosk setup – on a trip to San Francisco,” Matshoba said.

“What stood out was how unexpected it was – a business that small, in that kind of setting, offering card payments. That moment stuck. We quickly realised the same opportunity existed in South Africa, but the problem was even bigger.”

Although card penetration in South Africa exceeded 70%, fewer than 10% of businesses accepted card payments.

Interestingly, the problem wasn’t that these small businesses didn’t have bank accounts. They did. It was simply impossible for a small to micro business to get a card machine.

“That gap meant small businesses were effectively locked out, limiting their ability to grow,” Matshoba explained.

At the time, they calculated that this problem translated to a $50 billion (today, about R886 billion) a year transaction value gap, which they revised to $100 billion (today, about R1.77 trillion) by 2021.

“Small businesses in South Africa were being locked out of the formal economy because they couldn’t access basic payment infrastructure – card acceptance being the first barrier. That lockout limits growth, and that’s what we wanted to solve,” Matshoba explained.

More broadly, he said their journey has always been about removing the “muck” that gets in the way of running a successful business.

“The first problem we tackled was safe, accessible card payments for small businesses. But the bigger picture was always about giving entrepreneurs tools that help them operate better, not just transact.”

Building the product

At first, Matshoba only supported Maphai, Wazen and Wattrus as an advisor. Having just come out of a startup, he wanted to avoid getting into anything new. However, over time, he was drawn in.

“The more time I spent with them, the more it made sense. We all got along, and I respected each of their capabilities. In the end, you work with people you enjoy working with, who share your ambitions and values,” he said.

“If you get that right – and they’re talented – the rest tends to come down to working on the right problem and being prepared for luck, because there’s always a need for luck. We’ve had plenty of those lucky moments along the way.”

Even though they had a solid partnership and a clear idea of the problem they wanted to solve, they faced numerous obstacles that they had to overcome.

According to Matshoba, the most challenging part of founding the business was raising money and securing a banking partner, which isn’t easy in South Africa, especially for a fintech startup.

“Most players stop at basic functionality – I call it naked financial services. It helps you transact, but it doesn’t help you run your business. That anchors the bar too low,” he explained.

“Our approach has always been different – merging software and financial services to genuinely empower small business owners, which is a harder but more impactful path.”

Matshoba was responsible for building the Yoco product, a process which he described as iterative and relentless.

“We listened to customers, learned fast, and kept improving. The real work was making all the layers – hardware, software, payments – come together seamlessly,” he said.

“It wasn’t perfect at first, but that process of building, testing, and iterating is what shaped the product into what it is today.”

Eventually, though, their hard work paid off, and the team created a functional Yoco product that could process payments.

“I still remember probably one of the best moments where we were sitting coding in the back of the room, and we got to that point where we’re actually ready to do our first transaction,” Matshoba recounted.

“Everything’s set up, everything’s working, but we thought ‘this will never work’. So, we just sat there quietly in the back and did the transaction, and ta-da, Yoco’s first transaction happened.”

The future of fintech

By 2015, Yoco was finally ready to start operating as a real business. By the end of 2016, they had 5,000 customers – ten times more than they had the year before. Today, over 200,000 small businesses use Yoco.

“I’m not sure I ever had that ‘we’ve made it’ moment,” Matshoba said. “I tend to think in terms of what’s next. But one signal that stuck with me was when merchants started recommending us to others, unprompted.”

“When your product becomes something small businesses are telling their friends about, that’s when you know you’re solving a real problem.”

Matshoba said watching small businesses grow and hearing how Yoco has made it easier for them to run and scale has been the most rewarding part of his career journey.

“Also, building a team that cares about solving real problems, not just shipping technology. That combination – meaningful impact and strong people – has been the most rewarding part for me.”

Looking at South Africa’s landscape today, Matshoba said there’s still a massive opportunity in integrating tools, which would make it easier for businesses to operate, manage cash flow, get paid, and grow.

This can all be done within a single ecosystem designed to work with the business owners’ world, enabling them and their staff to run a better business.

“South Africa has no shortage of entrepreneurial energy – what’s often missing is the infrastructure to support that energy. That’s where fintech, when done well, can be transformative,” he said.

“It’s not just about payments or access to capital – it’s about building systems that allow small businesses to focus on what they do best, while the complexity gets handled in the background.”

Yoko devices

Issued on Daily Investor by Kirsten Minnaar | https://dailyinvestor.com/business/93648/the-south-african-who-went-from-a-cna-floor-assistant-to-creating-a-multi-billion-rand-fintech-giant/