Uptake of PosoCard unprecedented

BotswanaPost has had a remarkable uptake on the PosoCard, an innovative e-platform for payments and money transfer for the unbanked. The product, which was launched in 2014, was meant to revolutionise mobile banking and eliminate the need for users to have a cellphone or a bank account in order to transact and benefit from access to a debit card facility.

Head of Corporate Communications at BotswanaPost, Lebogang Bok, told Business Trends recently that, PosoCard is doing very well since its inception. “Every month we process over 100 000 transactions on the card which include old Age Pensions, World War 2 veterans and disability allowances. The coverage in terms of number of people eligible to receive the card is well over 97 percent showing very good uptake,” she said.

In 2009, the Department of Social Protection outsourced the payment of social services to BotswanaPost to transport cash for payment to over 140 000 beneficiaries in over 800 locations nationwide.

BotswanaPost then introduced the coupon system, which it later abandoned in favour of the PosoCard. This development placed BotswanaPost at the cutting edge of innovation in the provision of financial service access to the unbanked sectors of society.

BotswanaPost continues to grow as a service provider offering a wide array of products and services such as agency services, insurance, money transfer services, e-services, merchandise, and mailing services.

The wide array of product services has diversified the company’s revenues from the traditional mailing services, and has transformed the company into a service centre of choice among communities it is operating in.