SA pair strike it rich with innovative coin idea

05 July 2015 - 02:00 By SUTHENTIRA GOVENDER

If Mr Moneybags, Sir Richard Branson, approves, success is a sure thing. That was the experience for two South African-born entrepreneurs, Jeff Paterson and Oliver du Toit. Their innovative idea to revolutionise the exchange of foreign currency won them R1-million in Virgin Media's Pitch to Rich competition in London last week.The pair, who have engineering backgrounds and are now living in London, impressed Virgin Group founder Branson and his judging panel with their Fourex self-service machines - in the "New Idea" category of the competition.The machine will exchange coins and notes from almost any country in the world into a single currency. Forex agencies do not convert coins in foreign currencies.The innovative idea has also landed Paterson, 45, and Du Toit, 60, a lucrative contract with Transport for London, according to which the machines will be installed at London's network of underground train stations in August.The idea, said Paterson, was born about two years ago - out of sheer frustration."Both Oliver and I had an engineering project management company based in Abu Dhabi before this. Both of us travelled a lot."It was purely out of frustration of both having over $1500 in coins between us. I walked into the office one day and said if only we could invent a machine that would change foreign currency coins for people, we would be on to something huge," said Paterson.They knew they were about to strike gold when they found an American company that was converting coins into dollars and turning over millions of dollars in the process."We said if we could do the same thing for every coin in the world, we would be on to something massive."Their research revealed that in the past 20 years, UK residents had amassed more than £3-billion in leftover currencies from their travels that banks and foreign exchange agencies would not touch. "By mixing technology with common sense, we broke the mould and challenged the norm," said Paterson.Branson said entrepreneurs overcoming fear took their first step to success. "The winners all exemplify that, and the hard work and commitment they have shown underlines what is needed to set up a business."The duo are set to launch Fourex at the London Underground in six weeks, but they have already been inundated with requests for the machines in 20 countries, including South Africa...

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