Unipay mulls expansion into SADC market
UniPay, the 100% Botswana-owned technology company, which specialises in contactless payment solutions for the public transport sector has just announced bigger plans-which include taking the business to the rest of Southern African countries.
The ambitious plan was disclosed by Managing Director, Onalethata Tautona in response to Botswana Guardian questions.
“Our vision for the future is to expand both horizontally and vertically. On the horizontal front, we aim to extend our public transport payment solution beyond Greater Gaborone to cover the entire country and potentially expand to other countries in the SADC region with similar public transport systems.
“Vertically, we plan to diversify into new industries, such as providing fuel management systems for B2B clients,” said Tautona, who is armed with a degree in accounting and finance from the University of Botswana.
The company, which is based in Mogoditshane, has developed an App, which allows customers to pay public transport using their smartphones. The App is currently being piloted in the capital city, Gaborone.
“To enable transport operators to utilise our service, we offer them a contactless card reader and a companion smartphone application. The reader is paired with the application, transforming their phones into point-of-sale devices capable of billing the cards carried by commuters.
“Operators can easily download this application from the Google PlayStore, and we provide assistance with the setup process,” Tautona explained.
The self-funded business has chosen to focus on the transport sector, which currently faces challenges such as liquidity issues during the day, leading to disputes with commuters, delays, and revenue losses.
“These liquidity problems may force operators to waive fares for passengers. Secondly, the handling of cash has resulted in numerous instances of daily earnings being stolen. This has compelled operators to reduce operating, particularly during the night, leaving commuters stranded,” Tautona observed. Thirdly, the new App will address situations where operators struggle to maintain records of their transactions, making it difficult for them to provide financial institutions with proof of income.
“Consequently, they are excluded from certain financial services”, he said as a matter of fact.
The company which was formed a few years ago, prides itself with two major milestones. “The first milestone was the successful development of our system, which is currently in the testing phase. Developing a product from inception is a considerable achievement,” the content founder of Unipay stated. The second milestone is the company’s recent victory in the Botswana Development Corporation’s Business Den 2.0 competition. The winning prize included a capital injection of P500, 000.00 into their project, along with 18 months of mentorship.
The funds are being used to acquire the necessary equipment, hire key personnel, cover cloud service expenses, and marketing efforts.
“This is not to say the business has not been without challenges, which are peculiar with start-ups. For example, the company spent a reasonable amount of money on preparing for the BDC competition”, Tautona said.
The company is well aware of competition within the broad ICT sector in Botswana but is confident that its ‘water-tight strategy’ puts them in good stead to stem any competition.
“Our current competitive advantage lies in the technology, specifically the ability to process transactions swiftly even in areas with poor or no network coverage, consistently achieving transaction times of less than 5 seconds.
“This reliability is crucial for maintaining the confidence of transport operators, as transaction failures are not acceptable in this context”, he said, adding they are actively seeking collaborations with key stakeholders to establish a strong competitive position to enhance offerings.