South African enterprise payments platform Nomanini yesterday launched its second generation product, eLula, allowing merchants to sell different types of services electronically and providing more sophisticated business analytics.

Nomanini provides a payments platform that enables transactions in the cash-based informal retail sector in Africa.

Its flagship product, the Lula terminal, is a rugged, waterproof, GSM-connected point of sale (PoS) device for printing PIN-only products, mostly mobile phone airtime.

The second generation product enables merchants in informal markets to sell other types of services - such as electricity and water - electronically.

Chief Executive Officer of Nomanini, Vahid Monadjem, said the expansion in usage was triggered by the realisation that the Nomanini platform and PoS device could play a significant role in increasing access to e-payments amongst low income communities, as well as providing additional revenue streams for merchants.

"When Nomanini started it saw the significance of enabling electronic transactions to those without bank accounts in informal markets," Monadjem said.

"To do this, we focused on electronic vouchers for prepaid airtime to replace scratch cards, which received a great reception. But airtime is the tip of the iceberg. Our clients want a variety of services, and our devices can be used to deliver a number of fast moving virtual goods, such as prepaid electricity and water. eLula takes that foundation and provides the appropriate tech for informal markets to deliver these virtual goods, and we plan to expand into other services - such as microfinance - in the future," he said.

The new eLula platform also allows enterprise prepaid distributors to access business insights via an enhanced cloud platform, through an insight management dashboard.

"Our new dashboard drives efficiency for enterprise prepaid distributors, telling them which merchants are selling, where the sales hotspots are, which aren't selling and why," said Monadjem.

"This management platform has been hugely updated with our second generation eLula platform, providing not only analytics but also sales predictions, as well as integration to local products and services. We believe it is a step forward for prepaid distributors in informal markets, allowing them to maximise their sales and plan deliveries as never before," he said.

A key improvement in the new product as opposed to the old Lula device is the robust touchscreen, which is both drop and UV resistant, which Nomanini says is "almost indestructible".

"Our initial concept was that the terminal needed to be usable by everyone, and it needed to be rugged. Informal street sellers are often running from car to car, perhaps in the rain, and screens are susceptible to damage if dropped," said Monadjem.

The new eLula has first been rolled out in Mozambique, but is available to purchase elsewhere.

Monadjem also said Nomanini's older products still remain relevant and remain on the market, as they cater to different types of users.

"With our different products we can target different segments of the informal vendor market. A part-time seller with small usage may use our Android platform, a seller on the street running between cars may use the Lula terminal, while physical shops and spazas looking to offer more than one type of service may prefer eLula," Monadjem said.

"It's up to the merchant; the key thing from our point of view is that we are able to provide a number of simple to use, affordable, robust terminals that bring electronic payments into informal markets and increase the margins for merchants and prepaid distributors."