Page 80 - Innovation Delaware 2021

BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL SERVICES
Neggster: Teaching Financial Literacy
Through an App
KASAI GUTHRIE is hoping the financial world has finally caught up with him.
Guthrie is the 23-year-old founder
of Neggster, a banking app that helps
consumers save money by teaching delayed gratification and financial literacy. It’s an idea he actually first proposed when he was 14.
Then called, “Learn, Earn, Save, Buy,” Guthrie’s app idea won awards from the Business Professionals of America and DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America), but didn’t take off.
“It was super early in fintech,” says Guthrie. He mothballed the idea and instead pursued a career in music. But he couldn’t get the banking app idea out of his head. “Now it looks like everything is going to be digital.”
Neggster is designed to serve the “unbanked”
— those who lack access to traditional banks. It provides banking without a brick-and-mortar building, using a smartphone app and ATMs instead. Guthrie’s target markets: underserved minority markets, Generation Z and the continent of Africa.
“By 2025, Gen Z will make up 50% of the workforce of America,” says Guthrie. This is a generation that is very comfortable with online transactions, but not as comfortable with the traditional banking world. Neggster will provide learning opportunities to build their financial literacy and help them save money, he says.
As for Africa, the continent “will change the face
of mobile banking,” says Guthrie, who recently
moved to the Cape Verde Islands off the coast
of West Africa to open a Neggster office there.
The relative youth of the local population (average age
is 19), combined with the fact that they are already using mobile phones for practically everything because of a lack of infrastructure in many areas, makes Africa a very attractive business proposition, Guthrie says.
How will he win over these groups? With transparency. Hidden and predatory fees are the biggest fears that keep people from opening a bank account, he says. With Neggster, there are no fees, other than the $5 postage fee to mail the debit card. Neggster makes its money from the interchange fees to the retailers, not from fees to the consumer.
With the launch of the debit card, Guthrie and Neggster are trying to raise awareness as well as money to grow their product. Guthrie is selling Neggster hoodies and encouraging people to join the online waiting list to start an account.
KASAI GUTHRIE
78 DelawareBusinessTimes.com
“We’re bootstrapping,” he says of Neggster’s independent financing plans. Other than his mother, Guthrie’s investment comes from Grey Fox Capital, a Delaware-based investment firm.
“Grey Fox Capital invested in Neggster because we believe in (a) Kasai’s passion and trajectory, (b) his clear vision of accessible banking for all, and (c) the proven capacity of Delaware to lead lasting transformation within the financial technology market,” says Ted Lauzen, managing partner of Grey Fox Capital.
Although Guthrie has temporarily moved to Africa, he
says the heart of his business remains in Delaware. “I want to build in Delaware. It’s always been a special place to me. I’m trying to inspire a lot of youth to chase and go after a lot of the
opportunities out there.”
—Kim Hoey