Remember when banking meant leaving the house and queuing at a physical branch to see your banker? Now, you can use your mobile device to make payments and check balances, and at the same time order groceries, pay your electricity bill and chat online with friends and family – all without getting off the couch. The digital revolution in the financial services industry has changed the way we bank, shop and interact with each other, and the prolonged lockdowns as well as increa

Chat commerce is undoubtedly the way of the future, according to Pieter de Wet, President Business Development: International Markets at leading pan-African fintech enablement partner Ukheshe Technologies. “Ukheshe’s own Eclipse Chat Commerce solution offers everything a business needs – not only now, but also as an organisation grows.” Consumers are making a rapidly increasing portion of their purchases through chat commerce channels. Juniper Research estimates that sales ma

How does an app become a super app? Much like Superman, it gains extra powers. With mobile software applications available to assist us with almost every aspect of our lives, including socialising, ticket purchasing, shopping, fitness, banking and more, there’s a reason the phrase ‘there’s an app for that’ was coined by Apple back in 2009. More than a decade later, enter the super app; a one-stop platform with multiple solutions built into it so users don’t have to interact w

The first businesses in the Middle East and Africa region have started to experience the seamless ease of Mastercard’s Track Instant Pay solution, in partnership with leading pan-African fintech enablement partner, Ukheshe Technologies. Track Instant Pay is a next-generation virtual card solution that uses machine learning and straight-through processing to enable instant payment of supplier invoices – the first of its kind. “It safely and intelligently authorises immediate p

International remittances – a portion of earnings that migrant workers send home - are often a financial lifeline to families, especially those living in developing nations. Africa is one of the world’s most important remittance markets, with about USD$77 billion flowing in annually out of a global total of US$666 billion, according to the World Bank. The International Monetary Fund further estimates that 45-65 percent of these transactions are informal, or cash payments. The

Leading pan-African fintech enablement partner, Ukheshe Technologies, has appointed Darryn Botha as its Chief Information Officer. Botha’s role will include overseeing data security, maintaining a stable IT infrastructure, while enabling Ukheshe's business strategy and improving its ability to engage and collaborate with clients. Botha has spent over 25 years in the financial services industry with experience in building bespoke insurance and investment platforms to service l

Emerging markets in Africa are fertile ground for financial innovation, offering opportunities to address the decades-long challenge of financial inclusion. With these opportunities come challenges. A business breaking into a home market is difficult enough, but a foreign market means unfamiliarity with the local economy, politics, culture, social habits and consumer preferences. The solution to this is collaboration with domestic partners, who can help provide businesses wit

Last year saw an unprecedented rate of change in the financial sector, with huge growth in the use of digital financial services. A report by CB Insights entitled ‘State of Fintech’ revealed that the third quarter of 2021 was the second-highest on record for fintech financing, up by 147 percent year-on-year, and 2022 is looking like more of the same. Fintechs will continue to drive financial inclusion, assisting in the creation of an accessible and sustainable digital economy

While 2021 was challenging for many businesses and characterised by an economy struggling to get back on its feet after months of lockdown, the digital payments sector experienced a boom. There was a huge need to go digital, payments went contactless and large financial institutions needed digital mobile money propositions, and they needed them fast. Ukheshe was able to meet these needs with innovative product offerings and has in fact grown fourfold during this uncertain yea

Small businesses are contributing a growing slice of South Africa’s economic pie, increasing their contribution to the formal business sector’s total turnover by over 12% year-on-year. Yet few solutions are geared at these merchants. Physical point of sale systems are often unaffordable to them, transactions carry high charges, and the red tape to formalise their business dealings all hamper their economic progress. A new mobile point of sale (mPOS) solution from Telkom, crea

Three waves of COVID-19 over the past 18 months, and a fourth one looming, have all but devastated the South African economy. The unemployment rate is at a record high of 34.4%, according to Stats SA, and a TransUnion study shows that 62% of consumers are impacted financially as a result of the pandemic – 87% of whom are concerned about paying their bills. Add to this the dramatic rise in ecommerce driven by the pandemic, and the time is ripe for alternative payment solutions

New technology often seems fantastic on paper yet has little impact in the life of the average person. A new tipping solution for fuel pump attendants, however, does both. When asked to fill up a fuel tank as motorists do in the movies, few South Africans would know what to do beyond pulling their tank lever from inside the car. Fuel station attendants are as much a part of our culture as braais and ‘howzit’. And yet, a BusinessTech poll of over 7000 respondents in 2018 showe

Africa is leading the way in mobile money, and it will change banking as we know it By Mark Dankworth, President International at Ukheshe Technologies Mobile transacting is fast becoming the golden egg of financial services – and nowhere more so than in Africa. According to the Global System for Mobile Communications’ (GSMA) 2021 State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money, the number of registered mobile money accounts grew by 12.7% globally in 2021 to 1.21 billion accounts

Leading fintech enablement partner, Ukheshe Technologies has announced a new partnership with Chipper, one of Africa’s most valuable startups, to enhance and accelerate the rollout out of Chipper’s digital payment offerings. These include free and unlimited P2P payments across South Africa, value-added services such as airtime and data and the ability to legally buy, sell or transfer cryptocurrency. The partnership will also allow for more efficient transactions across Africa

Getting a start-up business off the ground is not easy. You need to hustle hard to find the capital, attract customers and feel your way around what might be a new industry to you. With all the hard work put into establishing your business, efforts to network among peers and gain visibility may fall by the wayside. Participating in a start-up competition can give your company the boost it needs to ‘get a foot in the door’. Your company doesn’t even need to win for it to be a

Leading fintech enablement partner, Ukheshe Technologies has announced a new partnership with global next-generation card solutions and digital security company, dzcard. The partnership will enhance dzcard’s customisable solutions for various digital ecosystems and locations. The partnership will leverage Ukheshe’s Eclipse API platform and its market leading digital payments solutions, allowing both companies to deliver digital strategies within their respective markets. Dono

Even with a high banked population and a multitude of electronic payment options available, the average South African still use cash for daily purchases and payments with an estimated 78-80% of transactions being in cash. Anton van der Merwe, the recently-appointed COO of Ukheshe Technologies, a fintech enablement partner that works with financial institutions to grow in the rapidly-expanding digital space, says that for these reasons alone, the opportunities for digital paym

The rapid growth and adoption of cryptocurrencies caught regulators by surprise. Since then, regulators have formed stronger positions, and even in some cases, legislation on how to regulate cryptocurrencies within established markets. Speculation abounds and currencies like bitcoin have been used as a diversification strategy to avoid relying on fiat currencies. There is likely to be a lot of evolution as cryptos become accepted as a payment mechanism, but this depends on bl

QR codes are facilitating mobile payments for more users around the globe than ever before. The reason? They’re fast, safe, efficient, and most importantly, are available to the vast majority of consumers thanks to QR code functionality built into most smartphones.  As a result, QR code payments have become the norm in Southeast Asia, particularly in countries like Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, and Vietnam. In China, QR-enabled mobile payments have largely displaced cash as

Ukheshe started with a humble proposition: bring electronic payments to the unbanked. As Ukheshe grew, it saw the broader issue: it’s not just that many people are unbanked; many financial institutions don’t have the digital means to engage with more modern audiences. When it comes to using QR codes, USSD payments, mobile apps, web interfaces and such, most banks find it too complicated. They have to coordinate the services of multiple providers and vendors, all while navigat