Member Article

Oliver du Toit, co-founder of Pitch to Rich-winner Fourex on ‘putting the bureau de change on steroids’

Bdaily speaks to Oliver Du Toit, co-founder of London-based currency exchange startup, Fourex, about winning Richard Branson’s Pitch to Rich competition, the changing face of currency exchange and global takeover.

Having picked up contracts with Transport for London (TfL) and Westfield shopping centre, successfully crowdfunding £640,000, and winning Pitch to Rich - it’s safe to say Fourex is on a roll.

The idea is simple. Fourex has built a kiosk that is able to accept unsorted coins and notes (that are both in and out of circulation) from over 150 currencies, and convert their value into either British Pounds, Euros, or US Dollars.

Founded by Oliver Du Toit and Jeff Patterson, Fourex successfully surpassed 2,500 other businesses to take home the top prize in the ‘New Things’ category of Virgin Business Media’s ‘Pitch to Rich 2015’ competition earlier this year.

For Oliver, even during the voting stage of the competition, the worldwide exposure was invaluable, he told me: “We have received an overwhelming response on the global stage. From blue chip companies in South Africa, to businesses across Saudi Arabia, Japan and even Ireland, we were approached about the possibility of franchise opportunities all over the world.

“That exposure was gold for us, putting us on the map and also planting the seeds for global growth.”

Oliver believes his product appeals to “a broad demographic, irrespective of race, colour or creed” as “everyone has foreign currency lying around”. He continued: “No one wants to get rid of this money, because it obviously has value. Fourex gives members of the public the opportunity to get rid of spare change and convert it into local money that they can take action with.”

Since Oliver and Jeff began developing the product three years ago, the forex sector has made some significant shifts. Oliver explained: “The industry has changed dramatically. For example, as banks have been trading, they have pushed forex into a ‘do not touch’ area, adjusting the rates and resulting in ongoing government inquiries. This sort of activity has given the forex market a bad name.

“We want to be able to tell the public that we will give them the best rate we can, and we will fight to keep the best rate on the high street. Our machine is one metre square, it is open 24/7, it doesn’t have personnel to make errors or interact with, and it brings the forex market to the person in the street.

“We apply a fixed rate with no commission or a transaction fee.”

Cutting out the middleman is a common trend with up-and-coming consumer-focused businesses. The likes of Uber and AirBnB have proved that bringing the service directly to the people can help save time, money and resource - putting the power back into the hands of the consumer.

“Primarily, the various companies and banks out there have created some mystique around forex trading. We want to open up the industry and give consumers the best rates on the high street. We want to solve a problem that everyone has had in the past,” Oliver explained.

“For us, the customer is king. You have to provide a great service, where the customer can just pop in at the tube station or the shopping mall and activate the machine, day or night.”

“People say cash is dying, but that’s not necessarily truth. Cash will be with us for the next twenty years, regardless of developments with credit cards and Bitcoin.

“You can’t go to Europe and tip a waiter or catch a cab with Bitcoin. Right now, cash is still very important.

“Cash will always be with us and that’s why we steered away from credit card and mobile phone payments - for us, it’s all about cash in and cash out.

“It’s a niche market, no one else is in our space at the moment and we believe we have an incredibly robust system - it’s a bureau de change on steroids.”

As a focus for 2015, Oliver is hoping to act upon the increasing amount of international interest Fourex has received, while bedding down the UK market. He said: “We’ve got pilot schemes starting in August and September, and we are hoping to receive a lot of customer feedback in that period.

“We want customer satisfaction.Thanks to feedback from hundreds of people, we are ready to roll out the third version of our kiosk, which we truly believe is the best yet.

“This year we will bed down the UK, next year we will go further afield starting with Europe and moving across to South Africa shortly after.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .