John Colson - Afrikan Heroes

Yellow Card Surpassed 1 Million Customers Across 16 African Countries

September 12, 2022

Africa’s fastest growing cryptocurrency company, Yellow Card Financial, is marking the exceeding of one million customers in only three years. The pioneering pan-African company reached 1 million customers in March and shows no signs of slowing down.

Since launching in Nigeria in 2019, Yellow Card (https://YellowCard.io/) has dedicated its efforts to providing financial inclusion and freedom for all Africans. The company expanded into four new African territories in the last year alone, increasing its total country presence to 16.

John Colson, Chief Marketing Officer at Yellow Card, says this achievement no doubt strengthens the company’s brand on the continent and trust among current and future users. It also inspires investor confidence, especially at a time when Yellow Card seeks to expand into more regions.

Reaching the one million goal is fantastic. It was a massive goal that we set for ourselves, and the team rallied to make it happen. Although it was not an easy journey, it has been a very rewarding one. This showed us that we are on the right track, people value what we are building, and it’s solving a need. Over one million people have trusted Yellow Card, and now it’s our turn to show why it is the number one place for crypto in Africa,” he said.

Over the last few years, the crypto exchange has achieved notable goals, which include: a Series A fundraise of $15M (2021) as well as the launch of the educational platform – Yellow Card Academy (https://Academy.YellowCard.io/) (2021), which boasts a wide range of information about cryptocurrency, blockchain technology, and financial literacy. In addition, earlier this year, they also revealed their new brand identity.

Peter Mureu, Marketing Director at Yellow Card, says every decision made has been for the benefit of their customers, reaching far and wide across the continent.

Every strategic decision we’ve made has always been customer-centric. We’ve advanced key efforts to localise content and engage with customers at events and activations to essentially meet them where they are. From a product perspective, we have allowed our customers to use their local currency to buy and sell crypto. Our strategy to educate customers on cryptocurrencies, combined with the tenacity of the team, are the key factors that helped us reach this milestone. And we are only getting started,” said Peter.

With 1 million customers reached, there is much more ahead for Yellow Card in 2022.

“We have only seen the start of the impact crypto can have in Africa, from job creation to breaking down borders. Over the next few years, we will continue to see innovative ways crypto is used to solve everyday problems,” added John, Yellow Card’s Chief Marketing Officer.

As the leading cryptocurrency company on the continent, Yellow Card will continue to pioneer as it dedicates its efforts to focusing on customers – with an emphasis on education, retention and user experience.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

Nigeria-launched Yellow Card is now Exchanging Crypto Across 12 African Countries

November 13, 2021

The Nigeria based cryptocurrency exchange Yellow Card which was launched in 2019 is now active in 12 African countries and planning further expansion after banking US$15 million in Series A capital in September. Yellow Card makes it easy for anyone, anywhere in Africa, to buy cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum and USDT Stablecoin using cash, mobile money, card, or bank transfer. The company claims to be “building a new financial infrastructure for the African continent”.

John Colson, Yellow Card’s chief marketing officer,

“Key to this is the fact that Yellow Card operates using a B2C model, rather than a P2P one. This means you buy and sell your Bitcoin to and from Yellow Card, rather than performing transactions with other investors,” John Colson, the startup’s chief marketing officer, was reported to have said.

“Yellow Card is formalising the informal market for digital assets while building a new continent-wide financial technology infrastructure.”

Initially operating in Nigeria, Yellow Card has scaled, and fast. It now offers over 160,000 customers in 12 countries the ability to buy, sell, invest and trade cryptocurrencies in their local currency, seeing a nearly 30X increase in users across Africa since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. For Colson, there is a clear reason why.

“Yellow Card is formalising the informal market for digital assets, previously much of the crypto trading was done in WhatsApp groups. By building a formal exchange we helped to create a better experience for crypto traders,” he said.

Further growth is now on the agenda after the company closed a US$15 million Series A round, the largest ever raised by an African crypto exchange, in September. The round, which was led by Valar Ventures, Third Prime, and Castle Island Ventures, will be used to help the company expand into further countries. Its list of current active African markets includes Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Cameroon, Botswana, Tanzania, Rwanda and Zambia.

“Launching in multiple countries is no easy feat, however, our great operations team works very hard to ensure our launches go smoothly,” said Colson.

“We have seen massive growth in the markets we have entered; there is a real demand for crypto in Africa.”