Mazzuma founders Nii Osae Osae Dade & Kofi Genfi — From PRESEC hacks to Ghana’s AI + Web3 payments startup
In Accra, two schoolmates who loved gadgets, coding and small businesses quietly began solving a simple but frustrating problem: moving small sums of money quickly and cheaply between mobile-money wallets.
That everyday friction became the first mission of Mazzuma, the payments startup co-founded by Nii Osae Osae Dade and Kofi Genfi.
The origin story: PRESEC projects → CYST → Mazzuma
Nii and Kofi met at Presbyterian Boys’ Senior High School (PRESEC). Their early projects ranged from classroom code experiments to informal product tests with classmates.
After university (Nii studied computer science; Kofi studied business) they and a small team formed CYST — Creative Young Smart Technology — focused on AI, blockchain and mobile payments.
CYST’s payments work evolved into Mazzuma, which launched publicly in the mid-2010s and iterated rapidly into the product seen today.
“We started by solving one tiny annoyance — moving airtime and small payments — and then built a developer-friendly API so others could plug in.”
Founders: early wins, failures and what they learned
Like most founder stories, the road wasn’t all wins. In interviews and profiles the founders have been open about early technical failures (prototype apps that didn’t find users) and product experiments that were quietly retired.
Those failures mattered: they taught the team where users felt real pain and where not to over-engineer. The lessons shaped a lean, API-first approach that prioritized fast settlement, low fees and developer ease-of-use.
Successes
- National attention and awards, including recognition on continent-wide lists for young entrepreneurs.
- Adopter traction from developers and merchants who used Mazzuma’s API to embed payments into apps and services.
- Strategic accelerator backing — including Adaverse/Cardano support for the company’s AI smart-contract work (MazzumaGPT).
Failures that taught them more than success did
- Early consumer-facing prototypes with UX and network limits that showed the team to focus on payments rails rather than product gimmicks.
- Technical integration hiccups with mobile-money operators that forced deeper engineering and compliance investments.
What Mazzuma offers today
Mazzuma’s product stack targets three audiences: everyday users, merchants and developers. The platform balances legacy mobile-money integrations with newer blockchain and AI tooling.
- Instant mobile payments: Low-value transfers, airtime top-ups and merchant checkouts connected to Ghana’s major mobile-money wallets.
- Developer APIs & SDKs: Programmatic access so apps and web stores can accept Mazzuma payments with minimal engineering overhead.
- Blockchain & token experiments: Mazzuma explored tokenized rails (often referenced as MAZ) and integrated selective Web3 capabilities for developers.
- AI tools — MazzumaGPT: An AI-powered smart-contract generator and developer toolkit (built with accelerator support) to speed Web3 app development.
Recognition, partnerships and funding
The company has earned significant press and ecosystem recognition. Notable moments include Forbes regional recognition for the founders and backing from Adaverse (Cardano’s accelerator) to support the launch of MazzumaGPT. Most funding announcements have described support as “undisclosed”; Mazzuma remains privately held.
Scale & finances — what’s public
Mazzuma is privately held and does not publish a public market valuation or a single “net worth” figure. Press coverage and ecosystem listings capture funding that ranges in reports, and some aggregator profiles list modest funding capture amounts (example entries record captured funding in the low six figures).
For a verified valuation or up-to-date financials we recommend requesting a statement directly from Mazzuma if you want to display an authoritative number on AllBioHub.
What to watch next
- Developer adoption of MazzumaGPT — if it scales, Mazzuma could be a key bridge between mobile money and Web3 apps in Africa.
- Regional telco and remittance partnerships — necessary to expand beyond Ghana.
- Regulatory clarity — blending crypto and payments will attract regulatory scrutiny; compliance choices will shape growth pace.
Timeline — quick reference
- Early 2010s: Founders meet at PRESEC and begin tinkering.
- ~2013–2015: The CYST project forms and payment work begins.
- 2015–2018: Mazzuma products and public launches; early press and awards.
- 2023: Adaverse/Cardano backing announced for MazzumaGPT (funding described as undisclosed).
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