How Munachi Ogueke brought the most diversified crypto wallet, Yellow Card, to Africa

Munachi Ogueke was running an e-commerce platform called Vasiti before starting his crypto journey in 2016. Eight years down the line, he brought Yellow Card to Africa and rose to become the company’s Chief Business Officer. In an exclusive interview with Technext, he shares his experience in the Africa crypto space and what Yellow Card has been able to achieve in the market. 

“I had heard about bitcoin sparsely, but I didn’t take any action around it. But, in 2016, my friends and I started doing some business, we were looking for some form of currency to increase transparency across the board, so somehow, we fell into the crypto rabbit hole. That’s how I got my first bitcoin at around $500. When the business ended in 2017, I didn’t sell the bitcoin, I kept holding it, and that’s how I found myself here today.”

Munachi got pulled into its ecosystem, continued learning, and started trading.

Yellow Card in Africa

Yellow Card used to be a US-only business, but Munachi started talking with the CEO, Chris Maurice, who he convinced to leave the US and showed him the amazing possibilities of Yellow Card in Africa.

“We met and started out with Yellow Card. We did a conference, we started meeting people and creating awareness about our product, and that’s how we took off. Today, Yellow Card is a full African business, we don’t have any branch out of Africa. We are in about 16 African countries. What we set to achieve from the onset is to bring proliferation into the African business, Yellow Card has a unique business model.”

Yellow Card’s ultimate vision was to bring diverse ways for people to interact with crypto. 

“The channels we used have evolved into different channels: cards, bank transfers, wire, even cash in some countries, the vision still remains the same. Our unique selling point is that we are the most diversified crypto wallet across the continent.”

The Yellow Card brand has an academy where people are taught crypto from the basics. They also hold campus activities to bring the younger demography to the fold.

Yellow Card unveiled its new corporate branding recently. And, according to Munachi Ogueke, the rebrand speaks more of what their business is evolving into.

The former brand was reflective of the initial commitment which was to provide crypto gift card services which have been used to a still end. Now, the brand is evolving into a fun, useful, robust, inclusive, cohesive and more rounded product so a brand identity that spells all that was long overdue. 

Munachi believes the rebranding would not result in any form of identity issues: “The rebrand was more suggested by our customers so they needed something that was more in line with how they use the product so it’s going to be a smooth transition for them.”

Most African governments have an unhealthy disposition towards crypto, Yellow Card has been able to overcome this challenge through a designated approach and dialogue. 

“We approach the government in any way we can and we try to do the right things. We pay taxes, we hire locally, we set up offices, and we help the economy in ways we can. We have very tight KYC and AML policies, so our platforms can’t be used for illicit activities. With the right people and dialogue lines, most times we are able to make progress. I think the government inherently just wants the best for their people but sometimes they get the wrong info and that’s what they act on, so we try to make a difference.”

Munachi believes Africa is playing a pivotal role in the global crypto space already.

Yellow Card achieved a significant milestone recently with a $15 million Series A fundraise. Lots of global crypto businesses are starting to pay attention to Africa. We also saw FTX announce a partnership deal with AZA Finance, a currency exchange platform launched in Kenya in 2013. 

“I believe Africa is playing a pivotal role in the space and we Africans are the ones that really utilise crypto, not for speculative reasons. Most of the US and other advanced countries use it for speculative reasons, but here we use it for transactional reasons and that is the use case that would eventually drive crypto to be a multi-trillion-dollar asset.

“Every African business has a role to play in poverty alleviation, but I believe we serve to provide value to the people of the continent, we provide jobs by employment. We also provide business opportunities by trading, access to the new digital economy and move value across the continent and beyond, yes we have a role to play definitely, and we see ourselves helping out those that we can.”

Yellow Card wants you to follow them on this journey, pack your bags already.