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The future is really exciting for us and links into why we participate in these fintech festivals. We think what we’ve proven in South Africa is scalable to other markets, especially those with similar setup to South Africa five years ago. Our focus is largely on emerging markets and seeking to partner our capability into a market opportunity, where the partner brings local knowledge and regulatory understanding and we bring platform capability. There needs to be a level of maturity and fintech support that enables our business model. There must be a very strong payments layer and smartphone penetration rates must be good. If those are in place and there’s a low propensity for retail stock investors to be investing in the local stock market, we start to be interested.

Millions of people in developing countries depend on microloans to raise the funds to grow a business or just stay afloat in hard times. And thanks to digital platforms, smartphones and free-moving global capital, growing numbers of people in the rich world are using their money to lift others out of poverty.

But the reality is often a lot messier – something that may not initially be obvious to the lender. In fact, like Cabusog and Lendwithcare, borrowers and crowdfunding sites connect via local partner microfinance institutions (MFIs) who do the essential work of assessing creditworthiness and administering loans. To pay for that, most MFIs charge interest to borrowers, often at wildly varying rates.

Kiva is the slickest of the microfunding websites, offering a mind-bogglingly glossy catalogue of projects sorted into different categories, countries and attributes, all illustrated with backstories and pictures.

“With Masterpass, we’re enabling consumers to make secure and simple everyday payments wherever they are and from any connected device, without needing to physically carry their bank cards with them,” says Mark Elliott, Division President, Mastercard, South Africa. “Thanks to our collaboration with SnapScan, we are pleased to offer consumers even more places to pay using Masterpass, which is now the most widely accepted digital wallet in South Africa.”Since its launch in 2013, SnapScan has grown its acceptance exponentially, especially among small businesses that traditionally did not have access to traditional Point of Sale devices and relied on cash payments. It makes accepting digital card payments cheap and easy, with merchants simply needing to display a QR code at the till, online or on a bill.“Given SnapScan’s extensive acceptance footprint, the ability to offer merchants a single QR code, which will accept payment from multiple mobile wallet solutions such as Masterpass, is the driving force behind creating interoperability,” says Lincoln Mali, head of group card and payments at Standard Bank. “We believe that interoperability between digital payments platforms is one of the keys to driving digital payments usage and acceptance in South Africa.”

Each Masterpass transaction is classified as an Authenticated Mobile Transaction by South African banks, ensuring that consumers enjoy the highest protection from fraudsters.

Yes! SnapScan is safe to use on multiple levels: The app requires a PIN to be entered before any transaction can be completed. This prevents anyone who has your phone from making transactions, as your PIN should be known only to you.  Your card details are also encrypted and stored safely and securely on your phone. Even if your phone is stolen, nobody will be able to see or access your card details.

SnapScan is a new innovative mobile payment App on a smartphone. It provides a cashless, card-less payment app that consumers can use at thousands of merchants across South Africa or to make donations to CANSA.  It can be used for customers of any bank in South Africa (not just Standard Bank).

SnapScan wants to see a cashless, frictionless society. For the customer, the app poses an alternative to cash and credit cards because it’s faster. Customers don’t need to wait in a queue, or for the PoS terminal to finish processing their payment. You can simply take a picture of the merchant’s unique QR code, enter the amount, and they’ll be notified either via SMS or their PoS system. The merchant can set up the system in five minutes (SnapScan claims) with no hardware required other than a mobile phone. This means that any person selling apples on the street to a department store can integrate SnapScan. There are also fewer costs involved compared to setting up a credit card terminal, the only charge being a 3% transaction fee. Secondly, it’s meant to be more secure. With SnapScan’s method of payment, the merchant never has to handle your details or card. The app user’s card details are stored on their smartphones and protected with their personal PIN codes.

This week, SnapScan rolled its app out to The Big Issue vendors across South Africa, the non-profit magazine that’s usually sold at intersections in urban areas. People with the app can now purchase the latest issue by simply taking a photo of a QR code and typing in the amount they want to pay. There’s no hassle of fiddling for your wallet or looking for change lying around in the car before the light turns green.