Thomas Pays

I am a passionate techpreneur, pacesetter with a passion for building businesses. Originally from France, I was amazed by the vibrant people and potential for business innovation in South Africa, that I decided to make it my permanent home in 2005, and have not looked back since. Over the past decade, I have built and exited 3 businesses. I founded GA in 2006, which grew to be the third-largest gaming agency in the world, reaching over 118 countries in over 20 languages by 2008. I founded Smokoo in 2010 from just an idea and persistence. Smokoo, an auction website with a twist, grew to more than 2.5 million visits in less than 6 months setting to date unprecedented records of growth and revenue for an eCommerce website in South Africa. In 2013 I co-founded Just Perfect, a digital agency providing 360-degree services to leading corporate companies locally, which lead to the development of i-Pay. I left Just Perfect in 2016 to commit my time and attention to i-Pay, now known as Ozow. Today, I do what I love most, being at the forefront of the most innovative and disruptive scale-up payment solution in Africa as the co-founder and CEO of Ozow. My focus is on how soon digital payments will transform the lives of South African & African businesses and consumers and the impact as a company we can have from a social responsibility perspective.