“When myself, Mitch and Dennis founded Sticitt in early 2018, we had one thing in mind – challenge the status quo within the financial services market. With our experience covering most of technology and banking, we had an interesting combination of skills and experience and we wanted to apply ourselves to a problem space that touches everyone. “If we can address a basic need that all people share then we can build a business of real significance and have a real impact.”
We knew that financial services (money) reduce to a few core needs: (1) transacting (modern bartering), (2) saving (when not transacting) and (3) lending (borrowing to invest or further develop oneself. Not the consumption-based boring of today). Re-thinking and shaping the future of how these core needs are met will impact everyone and in our view, the industry has evolved more around market participants and regulators than me and you, the end customer. That’s wrong, right! Off we went…
We also knew from the beginning that people should be educated when it comes to how financial services and more simply put, money works. Money should be an enabler to build a better life, not a crippling force, which it is in the majority of people’s lives today. Helping create financially savvy people and equipping them with the right products soon became our obsession. “Let’s re-think and shape the future of financial services,” we said.
On the more practical side, we picked a niche and started engaging with customers. Working closely with our partner, d6, we realised an opportunity exists to re-think the entire payment ecosystem within the South African school market. Schools are micro-economies and the existing banking and payment solutions in the market were not a good fit for the school and greater education market. We set out to change that as a first clear business goal – to become the reference for school and education-related payments in South Africa. Our next phase will include a youth banking alternative rolled out through our existing network of school, parent, and learner customers.
We’ve been joined by a diverse, passionate and capable team of individuals. We’ve got a strong shareholder base and board of directors that will help guide us as we build towards our future. We’ve achieved great success already with our school customer base exceeding 500 schools and active parents on our platform topping 30,000. The people involved in our business are committed to our cause and excited to tackle the challenges ahead. Our business values – are passion, simple (it’s simple, the work we do is important and we are making the world a better place, that is how we treat the smallest of tasks), curious, dependable, transparent, and personal forms the core of who we are and how we operate. We’re not going anywhere. We are here to stay and play our role in building a better world for future generations.
Our journey is still young but soon there will be a new name dominating the education-related payments and youth banking landscapes…We’re not here for a quick buck or short-term success, we’re here to re-think and shape the future of financial services. It’s that simple! This is us, we are Sticitt”