Nomanini, a South Africa-based startup, has made it easier for customers to purchase airtime, electricity vouchers and insurance through their mobile prepaid terminal.
The startup company uses the mobile voucher cards to dispense payment for other services such as electricity, insurance and savings plans. It provides a small portable terminal to facilitate the sale of the voucher. The mobile voucher top-ups are already in motion with the electricity payment being on a test run currently.
Nomanini’s chief executive Vahid Monadjem says he founded the company “to bring the power of mobile revolution to the communities that have most to gain from it”.
The company recently received undisclosed Series-A funding from Netherlands-based eVentures Africa Fund and Esther Dyson to roll out its products and services throughout South Africa and begin pilot runs in other African countries.
“The funds will enable Nomanini to roll out its proprietary, cloud-enabled system in South Africa,” the company announced earlier this month.
Nomanini, which means “anywhere” in Zulu, makes it easier for local businesses to monetise their service by offering the sale of vouchers and is targeting over 150,000 taxi businesses and over one million street vendors in South Africa.
The company says that many business people have taken up the service and even launched it in remote regions of South Africa, where conventional services for these payments are not common.
“Nomanini’s progress to date shows that prepaid vouchers are a highly effective way to collect micro-payments for the provision of services in emerging markets,” the company said.
According to Nomanini, vendors want fast, easy transactions and consumers want convenience and availability. Given the difficulty in distributing vouchers in informal and rural markets, prices are inflated and consumers with the lowest income often end up paying the most for essential services such as electricity and telecommunications.
The company projects that by March next year, it will have transacted over one million sales.
