The Senegalese start-up 4YOU™, which specialises in financing everyday consumption, plans to contribute to improving the purchasing power of consumers. The company wants to support the employment of young women by recruiting more than 5,000 4YOU™ Agents by 2021 in five countries, including 1,000 women in Senegal in 2020.

4YOU™ Agents will be in charge of enrolling merchants who wish to attract consumers with a "CASH BACK" program  or allow them to buy on credit with 4YOU™. "CASH BACK" is a promotion offered by a merchant or brand that allows consumers to receive a cash refund after a purchase.

"The social impact of our project is our main motivation. 4YOU™ allows young women to take charge of themselves and have a regular income by recovering 80% of the turnover achieved," says Draman Traoré, the co-founder.

 
Based in Dakar, the start-up plans to accelerate its development and expand its presence in four new African countries in 2020 including Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Guinea and Mali. To finance its rapid growth, the company plans to raise two billion CFA francs from private investors before the end of 2021.

This funding will enable 4YOU™ to strengthen its engineering team in Dakar, rapidly increase its user base and develop its network of 4YOU™ Agents.

In partnership with Orange, 4YOU™ targets a market of more than 50 million subscribers in Africa, whose middle class segment represents 27.6 billion euros per year. 4YOU™ increases this purchasing power with a mobile service that allows you to "pot" CFA Francs for each expense and buy on credit from merchants.

 
"We want to offer the 4YOU™ service to millions of consumers in Africa. It seemed strategic to us to join forces with an operator like Orange that guarantees a pan-African presence and a universal technology, the USSD, accessible with or without a smartphone, "comments Draman Traoré.

The idea to create 4YOU™ came to Draman Traoré by observing merchants distributing mobile credit with a phone. While Draman was thinking of a simple solution to help consumers get more services in convenience stores, the idea of 4YOU™ was born. Draman aimed to increase the purchasing power of consumers by grouping together in a mobile interface the financial privileges offered by merchants and brands.

In 2019 the 4YOU™ service attracted more than 64,000 unique consumers with an average monthly traffic of 20,000 consumers. That same year, the company generated revenue by charging for access to the service, participation in competitions for its consumer barometer and the management of  "CASH BACK" offered by partners in the retail sectors, catering, fashion and cosmetics.

About 4YOU™:

4YOU™ is a daily consumer financing service. The company offers purchasing power to urban consumers with a 100% mobile financial privilege platform, which includes services such as: contests, cash back, credit purchase and promo codes. These privileges are negotiated by 4YOU™ with merchants and brands who want to increase their sales and improve the customer experience. The 4YOU™ community has more than 64,000 consumers in Senegal and more than 80,000 followers on social networks. 4YOU™ is a brand of the company MILLENNIAL FINANCE SAS ACV, founded in 2016 by experts in  fintech and commercial banking.

Draman Traoré, co-founder and President of 4YOU™, was born in Bordeaux (France) where he grew up with the dream of participating in the development of Africa. After studying telecommunications and business school in Paris, he spent four years in Canada before arriving in Dakar in 2008 for the world leader in electronic payments, FIS Global. After eight years spent traveling through Africa, he decided to create his own company in 2016.