New payment system a solution for unbanked

A new payment system offered by SendSpend aims to become a contender in the race to provide payment solutions for people without bank accounts.

The UK-based platform, a global payment system based on cloud and mobile technology, was officially launched in August 2020. It aims to foster financial inclusion by enabling the unbanked to pay online and remit money instantly to each other using only a smartphone.

Qualified chartered accountant Graham Davies and experienced entrepreneur Tracy Andersson saw fit to launch an app that would cater to the needs of their target market. In 2012, they co-founded Netsurfer, which offered entry-level Android tablets and smartphones that became quite popular in South Africa.

In 2015, they explored the possibility of offering customers various online products and services such as e-books and access to paid online media. Noticing that the vast majority of their customers were buying their tablets and smartphones cash, and were without a payment card or bank account, they realised they would not be able to take advantage of the envisaged online buying experience.

“The underlying factor was that none of the systems had been developed from the beginning with the sole purpose of providing an online and mobile payment solution for an unbanked customer,” says Andersson.

“Most existing systems were either modified cellphone networks, extensions of traditional bank offerings or white-labelled credit cards.

“We then undertook to address the need we knew there to be.”

In 2015, there were 350 million people without bank accounts in sub-Saharan Africa, according to The World Bank’s Global Findex Database. The region has over 500 million mobile subscribers.

These figures were the driving force behind SendSpend, a platform that only needs a smartphone and an internet connection to access.

Andersson explains that “87.9% in Southern Africa use Android phones” – and the platform was manufactured to accommodate this specific target market.

The platform allows customers to top up a virtual card or withdraw funds at one of many SendSpend “Cash In or Out” agents.