Lungisa Matshoba: Why Yoco believes the future of fintech is solving more than payments

When Yoco processed its first transaction more than a decade ago, the startup had a simple mission: help South African small businesses accept card payments.Today, that mission has expanded far beyond payments.According to Yoco Chief Product Officer Lungisa Matshoba, the company now sees itself less as a payments provider and more as a technology platform designed to help small businesses run, grow and understand their businesses better.“The first product we launched was actually two products,” Matshoba said. “We launched payments, but we also launched a point-of-sale system. From day one, businesses didn’t engage with us as just a payments company. They engaged with us as a solution provider.”That early insight fundamentally changed how Yoco approached product development.Rather than focusing solely on payment acceptance, the company began building tools aimed at solving a wider range of challenges facing small businesses. Over the years, this has included products such as Yoco Capital, online payments, invoicing, customer management tools and cloud-based point-of-sale systems.For Matshoba, the long-term opportunity lies in helping entrepreneurs reclaim time and grow their businesses more effectively.Many small businesses still spend hours manually reconciling payments, inventory and sales data across disconnected systems. Yoco’s strategy is to eliminate these inefficiencies by creating a unified platform where everything works together.“You don’t reconcile between the same system,” he explained. “The system knows the data. It’s fundamentally there. This takes away the burden of time from the business owner.”The next step is helping businesses grow.Yoco has increasingly focused on products that help merchants bring customers back, increase spending and improve customer experiences. Even seemingly simple features, such as integrated tipping functionality, are designed with growth in mind.According to Matshoba, happier employees often lead to better customer experiences and ultimately stronger business performance.The company’s ambition is clear: become the digital infrastructure layer that powers small-business commerce. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit techaways.substack.com