After a meteoric rise to 22 million customers in 2024, Capitec could no longer grow as fast as it had in the past twenty years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, Fourie told Strydom that they saw many opportunities for future growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We started as a microlender, then a bank, then a tech-digital business,” Fourie said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“And now you begin to shift to a data business, where data drives almost everything.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He explained that the bank’s large pool of clients and number of transactions it processes provided the bank with roughly two trillion data points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This allows it to better understand customer behaviour, assess their risk, and grant them credit at the best possible price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Shoprite, Checkers, and Pick n Pay know what you buy. We know what’s in your bank account and where you buy. If you can combine the two, you end up with mega-data,” said Fourie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Then there are the mobile companies that know who you talk to, how long you talk, and what you do. If you combine all this…”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Capitec launched its MVNO in 2022. It runs on top of Cell C’s enablement platform, with infrastructure provided by MTN.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dubbed Capitec Connect, the bank marketed the service on the promise of “data that never expires”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In reality, Capitec Connect simply offered a highly attractive out-of-bundle data tariff of 4.5 cents per megabyte.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead of buying data bundles, customers purchased airtime that never expires, which was then depleted as they consumed data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Its price compared well against the lower-end data bundles of established players. However, Capitec’s prices started becoming uncompetitive for anyone consuming more than 1GB per month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Regardless, Capitec’s strategy proved successful, and it signed up thousands of customers in its first few months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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