A biometric technology company which has changed the way Batswanans cash in their food coupons is into the third and final round of the United Nations Public Service Awards 2013.
The Botswanan government put South African-founded SmartSwitch forward for the award as the result of a successful five year-partnership which has seen its previously outdated food basket system, with around 60,000 beneficiaries across the country, transform into an electronic biometric card device.
Now those Batswana eligible for the food coupons can simply take their card into a local council-selected and approved merchant to receive their allocation of food. No cash can be withdrawn on the card, which ensures it is only used for food.
Speaking to HumanIPO at the Cards and Payments Africa 2013 conference in Sandton, Johannesburg, chief executive of SmartSwitch Kevin Duke said: “The government were told about the award by the UN and then they approached us to provide the information to apply.”
The awards ceremony is in June in New York and Duke said it is very rewarding since it was SmartSwitch who convinced the councils to go biometric during the tender process in 2008.
Duke added: “The original tender was a food coupon system, but we put forward this idea of using biometric and electronic payments.
“It was pretty brave of the government because we had no track record.”
SmartSwitch and the local councils across the country have registered around 1,100 suitable merchants for the 60,000 beneficiaries to go to with their coupons.
One of the features built into the cards is the “safe finger”.
Celia Boitshepo Ajuba, of SmartSwitch, explained: “When you get given your card you scan all ten of your fingers for the biometric. However, you are able to choose one of those as your ‘safe finger’ which will automatically show a very low amount.
“We put this in place because there is a common problem in Botswana in female-led households where the boyfriend will put pressure on the woman to go and get them money or food. This way, if they are under pressure, she can show him she has hardly anything left.”
SmartSwitch are now looking at private ventures which can grow the business further. A pre-paid electricity service was launched on the cards three weeks ago and pre-paid airtime will go live in a fortnight.
Duke added: “What is interesting for me is now we got our foot in the door with the food coupon system is what can we achieve next?
“It took three full years to establish that system because there are some pretty rural places. We have a network of 1,100 merchants so we need to start diversifying.”
