Strive Masiyiwa recently took to his Facebook to comment on the progress made by Sasai thus far and he shared some interesting information about the recently-launched social payments application.
His Facebook post read;
Personally for me, as an entrepreneur, the most satisfying part of the launch of Sasai was knowing that as Africans we have the capacity to master complex technology platforms that can launch global businesses like What’s App, Instagram, Twitter, Alipay; if we put out minds to it.
Austin Zim is right in observing that Sasai App has now been downloaded successfully and used in more than 75 countries around the world.Yes, we still have the long journey ahead to make it a sustainable profitable business, but it should encourage every young entrepreneur out there to start believing that they can mobilize technical and leadership skills in Africa that can launch platforms that can go global.
In Sasai App, Vaya Africa, and Clean City we showed that we have mastered this digital platforms technology.
I want you to do the same and launch an explosive wave of products and services that address the needs of Africa.
BTW: We have two other platforms that are now ready. I had to make them wait to allow Sasai to be absorbed in the market. The technical and leaderships teams are polishing up!
Let’s Go Africa!
Your time is now!
Why this is important?
This is a pretty interesting revelation that suggests there is interest in the application both on the continent and beyond. If Sasai can push diaspora users to communicate with their families via Sasai that will be a small win that could convert some users. To do that permanently Sasai would have to offer some more functionality outside of chatting and considering the fact that EcoCash FCA is only available locally there doesn’t seem to be a way to allow foreigners to remit money directly through Sasai.
Why it’s not so important
Though the application has been downloaded in 75 countries (and counting) active usage is more important. Mr Masiyiwa didn’t comment on whether or not the application has active users in all of these countries so that’s not clear.
At the launch of Sasai, executives working on the app acknowledged the presence of unused apps (they referred to them as ghost apps if I’m not mistaken) -apps that you download and use in that moment. After that you never use that app again. Hopefully, Sasai’s downloads don’t fall into this category…
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