Co-founder and CEO of Lynkwise | Partner at Acorn Finance
It seems unbelievable that there is a billion-dollar industry in Africa that very few people know of and which remains largely un-digitised! Lynkwise, a Namibia-based, Africa-focused fin-tech was founded in 2019: the first to change this.
Lynkwise won the award for the most innovative start-up in Southern Africa for 2022 at AfricaArena, the largest and most prestigious start-up event on the African continent. Microsoft also selected them as one of twelve start-ups in Africa to be part of their first ever accelerator and is an on-going partner. In September 2022 American Billionaire Tim Draper selected Lynkwise as one of the seven most exciting start-ups in Africa and flew the team to Rome to meet him and his colleagues.
The executive team is made up of Ryan, Sean Penderis and Johan Vos (technical co-founder and software developer). Ryan (co-founder and CEO) is responsible for strategic planning, with a focus on expansion throughout Africa and additional revenue sources. He also oversees the sales and financial functions. Sean (co-founder and CEO) is responsible for the oversight and strategic planning of the Lynkwise software with a key focus on user experience and technical requirements of clients.
Many blue-collar workers in Africa typically don’t qualify for traditional lending and insurance products in the regulated financial services market, thus perpetuating finance exclusion throughout the continent. However, though payroll deductions they get access to the regulated financial services market providing the opportunity for improved financial well-being. They have successfully digitised the payroll deduction industry through the launch of the Lynkwise payroll deduction management platform and in doing so, are making a positive impact towards financial inclusion in Africa.
The Lynkwise platform is currently being used by several large pan-African financial institutions including Old Mutual, Sanlam, Metropolitan, FNB and Nedbank.
They both have a strong entrepreneurial drive and have always known that they would like to start their own business. Based on this, it has always been clear that the CA(SA) qualification would provide the perfect platform to achieve our goals. It took hard work and patience, but after many years of operating as successful chartered accountants and running their own practice, they were able to leverage their CA(SA) qualification in order to help convince the notoriously sceptical financial industry to make use of their Lynkwise platform and develop it into a successful start-up that is scaling across Africa.
It is extremely important to them to give back to the community in all types of ways. The company gives bursaries to aspiring CAs and assists start-ups through their work with the Namibian Business Angel Network. They also support various orphanages throughout Namibia directly and through their client engagements.
