Somali tycoon Ismail Ahmed’s Zepz to end 2022 in profit

Following the accumulation of losses in previous years, Zepz, a leading tech startup led by Somali tycoon Ismail Ahmed, has announced that it is on track to report a profit at the end of its 2022 fiscal year.

The company explained that the disclosure reflects its performance in the first half of the year, which was the result of strategies put into place to turn around its remittances business.

Zepz explained that the company’s fortunes changed dramatically in the first six months of 2022 thanks to a company-wide focus on “an efficient approach to growth” that included investments in marketing, talent, and technology.

The sudden increase in profit follows a cost-cutting strategy that former Zepz CEO Breon Corcoran announced in February. He announced plans to cut the company’s workforce by five percent, downsize its London office, freeze pay, and cut the marketing budget by $40 million.

“Our 2021 and H1 ’22 numbers show swift profitable growth that proves the grit of this organization and the resilience of its customers as they face increasing inflationary and recessionary pressures,” Robert Mitchell, the newly appointed CFO of Zepz, stated in response to a question about the group’s financial performance.

Zepz reported a loss of $151 million at the end of its fiscal year in 2021 despite a 67-percent increase in revenue from $239 million in 2020 to $399 million due to a significant rise in the volume of transactions made on its platforms during the period under review.

As the parent company of WorldRemit, the cross-border digital payments firm founded by Ismail Ahmed in 2010, Zepz operates as one of the leading players in the financial services industry.

Under the leadership of Ahmed, Zepz operates two market-leading brands — WorldRemit and Sendwave, another cross-border payment platform authorized to send money in the United States, Canada, the UK, and the EU.