Interview of the Month

Mr. David Shackleton, Group Chief Operating Officer, ezetop

David oversees mobile operator relationships and online & retail sales channels as well as marketing and business development. He has been part of the senior management team at ezetop since its formation.

With a background in strategic management consulting, he worked with the Monitor Group based in Boston, USA advising Fortune 500 companies on new market entry, competitor acquisition and organisation restructuring. David has also worked with Prospectus Strategic Consultants, Dublin, Ireland in a similar role.

David holds a Bachelor's degree in Engineering and in Engineering Science from Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.

About the Organisation

ezetop enables people living or working abroad to instantly top-up mobile phones of family and friends back home. Services are available from over 80,000 retail stores across North America, Europe and the Middle East region as well as from a significant online website, www.ezetop.com.

ezetop's services benefit money transfer companies and retail locations as they generate incremental revenue without cannibalising the money transfer products. ezetop currently offers its services to more than 70 countries/mobile operators across Asia, the Caribbean, Central and Latin America, Europe and Africa. Its existing clientele include Claro, C&W, Dialog Telecom, Digicel, Globe Telecom, MTN, Orascom, Telefonica, Telenor, Tigo, Ufone, Vodafone,Warid and others.

ezetop's global headquarters is in Dublin, Ireland and regional headquarters are in Miami,USA and Dubai, UAE.

Q. Tell us in brief about your journey so far.

We identified a need for an instant transfer product between high income and developing world countries, connecting people in a meaningful and easy way. We launched the ability to add mobile phone top-up, by enabling 20,000 retail stores in the UK to send mobile top-up into the Caribbean just over 2 years ago and saw strong demand from the communities we served then. Since then, we have continued to roll out our services in new countries and to new Diaspora communities around the world. We are now the largest seller of international topup worldwide and are serving all large Diaspora communities.

Q. What are the major product segments and geographies the company operates in?

We have over 80,000 retail stores and money transfer locations selling international top-up today. These locations are spread across North America, Europe and in the Middle East, and we have teams adding new locations in each region all the time. These locations can all instantly send mobile top-up to any of over 70 developing world mobile operators with new countries being added every week.

Q. What rate of growth has the company experienced over the past few years? What strategies is it adopting to stimulate growth and increase its market share?

We have seen stellar growth in the transaction volumes being sent by customers, driven by our marketing on the ground in the sending locations, as well as our efforts towards educating the potential recipients that their family and friends can request top-up from abroad. Our strategy with regard to growth is twofold; firstly, to continue adding money transfer locations and retail stores where consumers can access the service, and secondly, to bring the product to the consumer and educate them on its availability and benefits.

Q. What, in your view, is the USP (Unique Selling Proposition) of the company and how does that differentiate you from the other marketplayers?

We are the only truly global player in this space offering an unmatched number destination/receive countries. Unlike anyone else, our teams get on the ground into communities to drive sales into the locations which stimulate demand – these factors combined enable us to deliver the largest and fastest growing revenue for our money transfer and retail partners, which is what really sets us apart.

Q. Who are the most significant players in the market? Whom do you consider your main competitors, existing and potential?

ezetop has driven the activity in this space and the offering of this product to consumers around the world. We are also the only key player that is today delivering significant revenues for money transfer companies around the world.

Q. What is your take on the growing mobile money transfer to the African countries? How do you conduct business in these regions?

Today, ezetop is sending international top-up into several African countries and will be live into many more over the coming months. It is interesting to watch the success of in-country mobile money products, particularly in Kenya and South Africa, and the foray of these countries further into international mobile money transfer. Of key interest will be the commercial model and if they can meaningfully compete with traditional money transfer methods and that cost proposition. Our service is an additional one to money transfer.

Q. What are your near-term plans for entering other markets? Which segments or corridors is the company planning to focus on to achieve faster growth in future?

We continue to execute against our roll-out in money transfer locations in high income countries as well as add receiving countries (mobile operators) on a weekly basis. Our focus remains on promoting the service into the key remittance receiving countries, the majority of which we serve today.

Q. How soon do you expect global card/electronic solutions to replace conventional money transfers (cash transfers)?

Our product whilst being an electronic solution is not one that competes with money transfer, but one that creates additional revenue for money transfer locations, as evidenced by all of our existing money transfer partners who are seeing good incremental revenue gains.

Q. How are the customer requirements changing? Which factors do you think will be crucial for growth and success in attracting and retaining clients?

I believe the success that is being experienced by money transfer locations with ezetop, is in part a result of customers looking for additional ways to send meaningful support on top of the regular money transfer. For ezetop, the key to retaining clients is offering them a cost effective product that is easy to use – once a customer sends $10 to India and the same moment his wife's phone beeps in Kerala with top-up and she can make phone calls, a customer has been adopted and is retained.

Q. How has the economic slowdown, rising cost of living and currency movements affected the mobile phone credit market?

Given that international top-up is at high growth stages in existing as well as new markets, and that more and more consumers are using the product, there has been limited impact from the current economic climate. We also believe that as more people start sending money cost-consciously, they will want to ensure that some of what they are sending home to support others is spent on what is intended, mobile top-up.