Startup Story
Lilian Makoi is a Serial Entrepreneur who is passionate about technology and the opportunities it has in improving the lives of especially the mass population in Africa. She is the Co-Founder & CEO of MipangoApp, the Founder of Jamii Africa, and the Co-Founder of Stripesnsigns & FroKid Technologies. Lilian has received multiple local and international awards for being highly innovative and creating solutions with regional impact. Lilian was named Most Innovative Woman in Technology by The World Economic Forum 2016 amongst other accolades. She has a Master’s in International Business.
LoA chatted to Lilian Makoi this month to find out more about her entrepreneurial journey and her ambitions for the future.
What does your company do?
A financial data analysis, education, money management and recommendations software developer for Financial Institutions. Financial institutions using the Mipango software are able deliver:
Multiple wallets option for their customers e.g., Utilities, mortgage+
Transfer between wallets
Spend from specific budget/goal wallets
Receive investment recommendations, based on your profile
View spend and income analysis
Track spend from Cash, mobile money and other wallets
Future Financial products prediction & recommendations i.e., insurance, pension, school fees+
AI Financial advice and education
“I have always loved to challenge myself to achieve the impossible, the unexpected from a woman.”
What inspired you to start your company?
Low financial education in Tanzania/Africa, leading to bad spending habits and low uptake of formal financial services. This has over 60% of the adult population in debt. Financial Institutions have tried to address this challenge but do not have the tools to do so, especially with technology. Also a challenge we as co-founders faced after almost a decade of stable income, we had no savings.
Why should anyone use your service or product?
Current solutions only enable users to track their income and expenses. Mipango, using the latest technologies like AI and Machine learning offers a full suite of services. Mipango are constantly innovating, for example in year 2 we will launch the Buy Now, Pay in Instalments feature. Mipango digital payments for SMEs and more.
Tell us a little about your team
Lilian Makoi, CEO (full time), Master of International Business
Agness Mollel, COO (full time), Master of Law
Chris Rabi, CFO (part time), Master of Science of Managerial Information & Technology
Said Suleiman, CTO (full time) Diploma, Computer/IT Admin. & Management.
We collectively have over 10 years’ experience in Fintech for the African market where our previous start-up in Micro-Health Insurance was acquired with 15,000 paying customers.
“We aspire to be a leading provider of value-added services for customers to banks and financial institutions.”
Share a little about your entrepreneurial journey. And do you come from an entrepreneurial background?
I grew up in a family where both parents were entrepreneurs. I was fond of my father and sincerely admired the powerful and successful man he was at the time! Although he never really mentored me to be an entrepreneur, he would always push me to believe in myself. He made me believe I was smart, he made me believe I could hold the biggest title in politics or as an employee, then I could on my own imagine achieving. This gave me confidence in myself and allowed me to be super ambitious.
But in me, I have always loved to challenge myself to achieve the impossible, the unexpected from a woman, so I wanted to be like him…. not achieve the titles he had in mind for me. I remember one time I had a fight with my elder brother, and he said to me, ‘You are a woman, all we are waiting for is to marry you off and be a wife to someone, that is all you can be.’ He probably just said that in the heat of the childish sibling fight, but I never forgot that statement. I was hurt and disappointed that, that was all I could be?! That is all that is expected of me?! But I took it as a challenge, I would prove them all, including society, wrong someday. And all these played a great part in making me want to be more and believing I could be more and the perseverance to keep going, even when it is not all rosy.
In college I was renting out movies/ DVDs to make my own income. After college I got married and started a family at 22, experiencing the challenges of managing a household. I started a maids training company, then later a diet foods company operating from home. Seeing these initiatives wouldn't give me wealth, I got a job in the telecommunications industry, and it was there that I was exposed to technology and innovation and founded my 1st start up, JamiiAfrica, which was later acquired, and now Mipango Fintech, a construction company I co-founded, and more.
What are your future plans and aspirations for your company?
We aspire to be a leading provider of value-added services for customers to banks and financial institutions.
“We collectively have over 10 years’ experience in Fintech for the African market.”
What gives you the most satisfaction being an entrepreneur?
Adding value, especially financial, to the lives of the mass population in Africa. I also enjoy technology which gives me immense pleasure using technology to provide the impact I desire to the mass population.
What's the biggest piece of advice you can give to other women looking to start-up?
Depend on God like your life depends on it, because it does. He will guide your thought and clear your paths, He will give you big dreams and the ability to see them through. He will protect what is yours and link you to networks of people and opportunities that are meant to get you to achieve the dreams He allowed you to dream.
Gone are the days where there were women businesses and men businesses. Women are no longer limited to small scale poultry projects, hair salons and secretaries, you can have a 10,000 chicken farm, you can design an app that detects hair types and uses Artificial Intelligence to give hair products and hair styles recommendations. You can be a virtual secretary with multiple clients. You can be the CEO or Managing Director of a big corporate…you can be anything you put your mind to!
Contact or follow Mipango
WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | YOUTUBE | EMAIL lilianc@mipangoapp.com
Why LoA loves it….
At Lionesses of Africa, we love innovators, market disruptors, women entrepreneurs who want to create solutions to challenges and problems in society. For Lilian, that meant creating solutions to help the mass population to manage their money better by harnessing the power of digital technology. She is a woman entrepreneur who thinks big impact, and her business is certainly gearing up to positively impact the lives of many in her country. — Melanie Hawken, founder & ceo, Lionesses of Africa