Teddy Ruge and his startup Remit.UG working to compete with Western Union and Moneygram

Teddy Ruge – Founder of Remit.Ug

Late last year, Ugandan entrepreneur Teddy Ruge launched Remit.UG an African quick-pay service that enables Ugandans in the diaspora to quickly and efficiently transfer money to contacts in Uganda. The service intends to effectively compete with industry giants such as Western Union and Moneygram and in time become the tool of choice for money transfers to the African continent.

By the end of 2013, there were over 750 million mobile devices in Africa. According to Ruge, the Kenyan-built M-PESA platform, opened the door to leveraging the mobile device as a payment platform. Mobile money is democratizing, bringing digital banking to the masses.

In June this year, Ruge and his team at Remit.UG won a competition hosted by Switzerland-based Seedstars World that included several African startups and teams of entrepreneurs and developers with ideas that would address some of Africa’s current problems while making money.

In terms of remittances alone, Remit.UG estimates that Africans in the Diaspora send up to US$60 billion annually to the continent. At an average cost per transaction of 11.89 percent, Africans are spending more than US$7 billion in fees. This is what informs their business model. Ruge and his team believes they can build the fastest, cheapest, and safest way for Uganda’s and by extension Africa’s diaspora to send money home.

Remit.UG has identified a gap that needs to be filled – which they are are working aggressively to address.