South Africa-based mobile point of sale (PoS) service Nomanini has partnered Zambian airtime distributor StreetCred to facilitate the rollout of the Nomanini solution in the country.
StreetCred plans to encourage Zambian mobile operators and airtime distributors to join it in switching to Nomanini’s platform.
It is the latest partnership of its kind for Nomanini, with Disrupt Africa reporting last month the company partnered ICT provider Paratus Telecom to launch a mobile airtime distribution service in Namibia.
The company has already expanded to the likes of Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Somalia and Guinea, and in August announced it had received US$450,000 in funding from the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), taking its total raised capital to over US$2.3 million.
“We have been working with StreetCred for the past nine months or so, trialing and increasing the number of PoS terminals, and we are very pleased to enter into an exclusive partnership with them in Zambia,” said Vahid Monadjem, chief executive officer (CEO) of Nomanini.
The Nomanini solution is designed to be more flexible and cost-effective than the airtime scratchcard it replaces.
“Informal vendors can use the terminal to sell and print airtime vouchers as required, so there’s no need for retailers to buy scratchcards in bulk and then worry about selling all the stock. And distributors don’t need to print and deliver anything either. All that’s required is a roll of till paper and the terminal, which can be used even when there’s no internet access or electricity,” said Monadjem.
Prince Nyati, founder of StreetCred, said: “Since we started operating in Zambia, it has become clear that this is the best product on the market today. The fact that it is truly mobile and built to physically withstand the rough operating requirements of the African market has made it easy for us to deploy it in locations that were previously not accessible to electronic voucher distributors (EVDs).
“The long battery life and car charger allow vendors to manage challenges associated with unreliable power supply and enable them to access remote markets. We are confident that this device will transform the airtime industry from a scratchcard-based market to an electronic one, and we are pleased to partner with Nomanini in its rollout in Zambia.”
StreetCred and Nomanini will look to extend their partnership to include the distribution of prepaid electricity vouchers in the near future.
“Our platform is highly customisable, and can be modified to facilitate just about any cash transaction, including prepaid electricity and water, microloans, and even bus ticketing”, said Monadjem.
