Ham Serunjogi

Ham Serunjogi (born December 2, 1993) is a Ugandan businessman who is the co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Chipper Cash, a financial technology company that offers cross-border payment services in Africa. Quotes In 2021, Chipper raised $150 million Series C extension, valuing the startup at $2 billion, but has since cut its valuation, reportedly by 70 percent, has engaged in three rounds of layoffs, reducing its headcount by nearly 175 from its peak of 450, and has drastically pulled back from its aggressive growth and expansion strategies across the continent. I think the companies that are able to be long-term minded as much as possible have a competitive advantage. And that's always been something that I think I strive to have with Chipper. And I think it's also true that there's always times when you have to navigate accordingly. And different times require different adjustments. I think at the heart of that statement I made was really access, right? For us, price and cost is a barrier in our space. The more expensive it is, the less people that can use it. And Chipper was... The intent for our business is to have as many people participate in formal financial services as possible. So removing that barrier... And by the way, Chipper is still fee-free for local domestic payments in any country we're available in. People... We don't charge fees for sending payments to Chipper to Chipper in your local countries. That's still true. And I think at the heart of our focus on access is how to provide the best quality services with the lowest barriers to participation. The times then were more favorable for doing capital-intensive things, raising a lot of capital and being aggressive in different areas. Times now are more aligned with capital efficiency, capitalism-expensive, less money going around. So you need to adjust accordingly. And we've been exactly as compliant with that as any other company has in terms of looking at every cost area of the business, being efficient, making sure that we're being as thoughtful about resources as we can, and still doing that with a long-term mindset. I keep telling everyone on the team and my leadership team that we still have to think about Chipper in 10 years and not just in like 10 weeks or whatever timeframe people who are doing things in short-term viewpoints think about things. So in any company, in particular, the leadership team is uniquely the only team that does think about things in terms of like now, but also in the long-term. Otherwise, what are you doing if it's just for a quarter or a month? So our North Star hasn't changed. Our ambition for the business hasn't changed. Its impact on what I think we can be hasn't changed, but obviously to better navigate these times, which are, I think this has been probably the most challenging stretch of time in the financial markets for many businesses since I think 2008 or even before. So you have to adjust accordingly and you need to make the necessary adjustments to be well-positioned to go through that period and come out stronger. And I feel pretty good about the changes that we've made. Africa has always had its challenges in terms of operating in it. There's always been that very well-known haircut that you get from being an African company. Right? It's like the additional risk, you get questions people ask you, "What about civil wars? What about this? What about that?" And you're like, "Okay." And so that's always been there. That didn't start two years ago. So we've always had to deal with those things. I think in many ways, the bar has only been raised higher from what was really a difficult place for a lot of businesses doing work in Africa have had. But also, I think at the same time, I'm very optimistic naturally as a person and I think I've seen a tremendous amount of change and appreciation and excitement around the African fintech space and African tech space in general in the last year, two years. Beyond gaining the experience, I needed the money. I had no money. I had to survive. It was both practical but also important for my post graduate opportunities. So Maijid had already graduated and was working in Silicon Valley. In winter I would come and stay with him. I told him this internship thing is giving me a hard time, I am going to try a different approach. I decided to email Sheryl, a very informal email; “ Hey Sheryl, I would like to do an internship at Facebook, can you help me?” The next day, it was a Saturday, she replied to me back and recommended me to the Head of Recruiting. They asked me what I wanted to do and I told them. Then they set me up with the team for the interview and I got it. And it was a wonderful internship. I learnt so much. I met so many people. And that was in New York and I did so well that I got a return offer. I was invited to come and work for Facebook full time after I had graduated. It was something we had softly agreed upon before I let for Europe. We really committed ourselves to it. After I graduated, I would come back to Uganda as often as I could. When I was at college, I spent four years without coming back because I didn’t have the money. But when I started working I would come back for the holidays and I would try to come as many times as I could. I was always curious to know what the people were doing, what phones they are using. How is mobile money taking off? How are people moving along with the trends? In late 2017, it became very clear to us that of everything that was happening in Africa in terms of payment, the biggest opportunity that no one had addressed yet was sending money across borders. And that was still as bad a long time before when I was going to South Africa. External links Category:1993 births Category:Living people Category:Businesspeople from Uganda