Meet the Yoco Product Team

6th July 2017

The Yoco Product Development team.

“Our team does not write code, we build solutions. We have a team of people who would throw out the best piece of code ever written in favour of building the best solution to meet the needs of our customers.

This quote from Lungisa perfectly sums up how we look at product development. We’re pretty obsessed with customer-centricity and making sure we put entrepreneurs first in every decision we make. As a Yoco Product Developer, you speak to our customers, our support and operations teams, and even run support yourself from time to time. It also means we build tools and choose technologies that scale as our business and our customers’ businesses grow. We’re not bound by one way of doing things – we’re flexible and adaptable.

It’s this thinking that drives us to undergo extensive beta testing with every new product we launch. This allows us to refine and improve our offering using constant feedback from the people who will be using Yoco in their businesses. 

Our team of product heros has grown quite rapidly in number in the past few months, and we’ve had many new awesome additions. Get to know the new and old faces below.

If you’re interested in being part of the Product team, have a look at our current job openings here.

A Yoco Product demo day.

Lungisa aka Dennis

Being a part of building a product that has a direct impact on people's ability to grow their own wealth and drive their own success is very rewarding.

 One of our four founders, Lungisa’s job is to support the people who make Yoco products , champion innovation and make sure that our product development and design is always done with the customer’s needs at the forefront.
 
Lungisa previously co-founded a VoIP startup called Yeigo where he “built lots of cool stuff, learnt stuff about business that no business degree can teach, and had a lot of fun.” Along with Katlego, Carl and Bradley, he founded Yoco in 2013. His favourite thing about being part of Yoco is that he finds himself surrounded by people who surprise him every day. In his spare time he enjoys running, because he loves being on the road while most of the country is still asleep.

Andrew aka Snowdog

We are constantly trying to improve how we work and really go the extra mile to make sure that our products are amazing to use. I love the idea of giving small businesses access to tools and technology that were too expensive or unavailable to them before.

Before Yoco, Andrew ran Yeigo along with co-founder Lungisa, before Lungisa convinced him to leave and start a payments company. Andrew loves that his job is all about building software that is used by so many amazing small businesses.
 

The most important thing he’s learnt along his journey is not to avoid complicated problems by only working on things that are easy and within your comfort zone. Outside of the office, Andrew enjoys running, hiking and taking his puppy, Abby, for walks. He is also a big fan of Mexican food.

Altus aka Lunchmaster

Making the lives of small business owners easier has become a passion. Every time we build something new we get to engage with that on a deeper level.

Altus is one of the original Yocos and has been with us since 2014. Before Yoco he was one of the first team members of a mobile apps startup, but now Altus looks after building new products and features for the team and our customers. His favourite thing about his job is getting to create awesome things that make an impact.
 

Because he’s often pushed outside his comfort zone in many ways, Altus has learned more at Yoco than any other time in his life (his exact words, we swear we’re not making this up). Outside of the office Altus loves to run and hike, is an avid boardgamer, and is quite the craftsman – he made a chicken hat especially for AfrikaBurn.

Mandisa aka Panda

I'm learning every day. I surprise myself every day. And more importantly, I see the value of what I'm doing every time I meet one of our merchants.

Understanding the needs of the people using your product is one of the key things Mandisa has taken away from her time working at Yoco. She’s learning that starting and running a business can be made easier if you have the right tools and resources. Mandisa also has quite a creative side and loves to create art in her spare time.

We say it all the time. We're customer-centric. We handle all the complexities of the code ourselves, so that the customer experience can be easy and simple.

Nick aka Nick doesn’t do Nicknames

Another one of the Yoco originals, Nick describes his work as “coding cool stuff for Yoco so that we can handle all the complicated, messy, and ultimately boring work for our customers.” He joined Yoco from a position in investment banking, and asks us to please not blame him for the Lehman Brothers meltdown that almost lead to a worldwide recession (we got you, Nick).

Interested in joining the Product Team? Have a look at our current career openings here.

Robyn

When you’re engaging with Yoco on social media, Robyn is the girl you’re talking to. She loves learning from our community and seeing small businesses thrive. In her spare time you’ll find her off hiking in some forest, curled up with a book or singing karaoke (badly). After graduating with a B.Bus Sci degree from UCT, she found Yoco and jumped in head first. She now manages Yoco’s social media profiles and online community, and writes an article or two for the blog.