Gregory Keough, Founder, RegaloCard.What do you need to be an entrepreneur?
A good idea and a positive can do attitude.
What did inspire you to start your business?
RegaloCard was founded to replace costly money transfer services like western union and moneygram. Money transfers are a huge market but they are 1. Costly, 2. Not instant, 3. Don’t allow the sender to control how is money is used, all key element to the person sending the money. At RegaloCard we looked at the current model and found it flawed, and we developed the RegaloCard system which accomplishes the same thing as the typical money transfer but is free and delivered instantly using mobile technology and also allows the person sending the money transfer to assure their money is spent by choosing the gift card of the retail brand where he wants the recipient to spend the money. The RegaloCard solution answers the clear consumer desire for a more friendly and cheaper, in this case free, way to send their money transfers back home to their home countries.
How did you finance it?
We invested $5 million to develop the technology and infrastructure.
Being Hispanic…Does it have any influence on your business?
RegaloCard was founded with the idea to provide Latinos a free and instant money transfer system so our business is all about serving the US Hispanic market well with an innovative solution that both saves them money and improves their control over the money they send back home.
In the face of adversity, how do you decide to keep going?
The fundamental belief that RegaloCard has developed a superior business proposition and model to the current large incumbents like Western Union, Moneygram and others.
What is the biggest challenge your business has faced?
Launching new technologies is always a challenge, but at RegaloCard I think we made a very easy to use system that has made a previously cumbersome process much faster, easier, and cheaper.
If you could change one thing about your business, what would it be?
Nothing yet.
What was your childhood ambition?
Always was interested in business.
Tell us about three entrepreneurs that you admire?
Steve Jobbs, best marketer of all time.
For business meetings: breakfast, lunch, or dinner?
Dinner.
What sacrifices on your personal life did you have to make in order to become a business success?
With my first company I was all consumed with the business above all else. Now, after founding 4 different companies, I think I have learned to balance much more successfully family and business, family always is top priority.
What is your favorite quote?
Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes. Oscar Wilde
Is it difficult to be unconventional?
I think it is not necessarily unconventional to see things in a new way. At RegaloCard we looked at the $200B annual business of money transfers which has existed for ages and just looked at it from a different angle. By allowing people to send Gift Cards to specific retailers in their home countries and using the latest mobile payment technology we created a free instant money transfer that we believe will replace the current costly systems.
Biggest mistake made?
Too many to list.
Do you consider yourself an innovator? Why?
I would like to consider myself an innovator and think in the case of RegaloCard we have taken the money transfer industry dominated by Western Union and Moneygram that have operated in much the same way for ages with their high fees, having to visit the bank to pick up your money, and no way for the consumer to control how their money is spent. Compare this with RegaloCard where the service is free, instant, and the sender can control how their money is spent and I think it represents the essence of healthy innovation.
About the Company.
RegaloCard, www.RegaloCard.com, is a revolutionary new type of Gift Card that uses a proprietary mobile payment technology to allow immigrant groups to instantly send their relatives back home what they need absolutely free. RegaloCard is a prepaid gift card that you can buy in the United States, but is delivered instantly to the person you choose in your home country, to make purchases at leading local retailers. The RegaloCard service works with any mobile phone and carrier worldwide and is the best way for immigrants to send their families the things they need. While initially focusing on the US Hispanic market, RegaloCard plans to expand the service to other regions that have a high level of immigrants residing in the US. For more information visit www.RegaloCard.com
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