South Africa’s first geo-fenced mobile payments startup GustPay held a launch party last week from where it introduced to an estimated 400 people smartphone-payment system.
The launch party, which was held in partnership with TrustFabric and Boom.fm (both organisations are part of the South African based World of Avatar group which owns Mxit as well), was held to celebrate the launch of GustPay’s apps in both the Apple iTunes and Google Play stores.
The event, called Grim Furdango, was the first music festival in South Africa to combine Near-Field Communication, or NFC, wristband payments with mobile phone payments.
It was held at the Klein Libertas Theatre, with SAB, Distell and Red Bull as sponsors, the event featured local acts including Mr Cat & the Jackal, Nomadic Orchestra, Maor and Black Handed Kites – who also produced the soundtrack for GustPay’s new video.
As previously reported by HumanIPO, GustPay is currently running a closed pilot phase in Cape Town and Stellenbosch. The aim with Stellenbosch is to make the first cashless town in South Africa.
Joe Botha, CEO of TrustFabric and one of the founders of GustPay, said they noted “very positive feedback from people who attended the event.”
“The payment process was quick and convenient and the bar queue was never longer than two or three people, even though we only had two bar staff for a party of more
than 400 people,” Botha said.
Now, GustPay in partnership with RAMfest, a major local events group, aims to introduce a new era in festival intelligence.
The concept, according to Botha, is very simple and aims to have major music festivals that have no queues to get in, where you pay with a wristband. Gust provides simple, safe and frictionless
payments.
“The dream is to offer a cashless environment where you can manage your wristband tag from your smartphone. Load money on your tag and leave your phone in the car – like a personal mobile ATM. Or if the tag gets lost, cancel it from your phone without losing any money. You no longer need the stress of a wallet full of cash that can be lost or stolen,” said Botha.
Wristbands are scanned at the door for access control. Festival goers can reuse their tags and the tags are waterproof. Buying a drink was as simple as swiping the NFC wristband. The user’s profile photo and balance shows up on an iPad and the payment is confirmed by a second swipe.
Also, the wristbands can store a person’s medical conditions and risks and can prevent the sale of alcohol to under-eighteens when linked to TrustFabric’s Child Protect — service which has a database of date of birth records linked to mobile phone numbers.
“Our challenge is to create a culture of mobile payments. The Stellenbosch student community and music festivals are fun places to start. We designed a payment system, which we would want to use. I believe there is lots of room for innovation as we take online trust and payment technologies into real world experiences,” concluded Botha.
