“You can only connect the dots looking backwards,” Abel Masai, the founder of Kocela Limited starts, by quoting Steve Jobs.
They are a digital payment provider, dealing with customer focused payment solutions in the mobile or digital space, who have been operation for 5 years.
However, their vision is not just the payment methods but also, customers who use their services. What are their needs? “If you can build products that revolve around the customer, then you are making a difference there in transforming their lives and their businesses,” Abel Masai says.
His success story began at Cellulant where he a Product Developer Intern. He had a vision of being the head of Software Engineering but soon realized that he wanted more out of his life. During his internship, he developed a passion for smart phones and their versatility.
In 2012, his passion led him to launch a product called News Drift. It didn’t have a lot of success on the first try as very few people downloaded it. So, he decided to package the app and sell it to Chris Kirubi for Capital FM in 2013, but he was turned down. He resolved to white-label News Drift and sell it for use at the Standard Media Group.
In the same year, he got called for an interview at KCB because they needed someone who had experience in software development. He however didn’t end up joining them. Later in 2014, he decided to start Kocela and quit Cellulant. He reached out to the management teams of KCB, National Bank, Safaricom among others to pitch ideas to make their mobile apps better.
When KCB replied, after some time, it changed the trajectory of their growth. Initially, they were an app developing house but they had to change to be able to narrow down to financial applications. Through their journey with KCB and other financial institutions they worked with, they morphed into a financial services provider.
Kocela Limited achieved so much success, that led to them being voted as the best payments and transfers company in Africa in 2017.