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SA's Nomanini integrates with M-Pesa in Mozambique

By , ITWeb
Mozambique , 08 Mar 2016

SA's Nomanini integrates with M-Pesa in Mozambique

Enterprise payments platform provider, Nomanini has announced its integration with M-Pesa in Mozambique. This integration, enabled via its local country partner, Mozambique Mobile Solutions (MMS), will allow merchants to use mobile money agents as a means of topping up their virtual vending accounts on Nomanini terminals.

Nomanini is based in South Africa. The technology platform enables transactions in cash-based informal retail sectors in Africa, with its end-to-end solution designed for informal market environments.

The new merchant cash-in partnership with Vodacom's M-Pesa service in Mozambique will allow merchants to deposit cash with M-Pesa agents in order to top-up their terminals.

Vahid Monadjem, CEO of Nomanini says the company saw strong convergence between what they do and the services offered by mobile money providers.

"Integrating with services such as M-Pesa helps make mobile money more accessible to consumers and offers merchants and enterprises in informal markets the opportunity to increase their margins and reduce their working capital requirements. With this integration in Mozambique, we have begun that journey."

The new method of merchant cash-in is already being rolled out to several thousand merchants in Mozambique according to Nomanini.

The merchants, who receive cash payments for virtual products such as prepaid electricity or airtime, will be able to deposit the cash with mobile money agents, topping up their virtual vending accounts with mini-bulk cash deposits.

"Being able to top-up their virtual vending accounts via mobile money helps merchants manage their liquidity, as deposits can happen more frequently and require them to travel less far. It decreases the risk of handling large amounts of cash for prolonged periods, and also allows merchants to gather an electronic record of transactions that can help them gain access to credit," the company explained.

Nomanini added that their overarching goal is to support the integration of payments ecosystem into the general retail sector by scaling up merchant usage of mobile money in three phases.

"Mini-bulk payments are just the first phase of what we plan to do with mobile money. As part of the second phase, we plan to move into nano-cash/single dollar cash deposits and withdrawals into mobile money wallets, facilitated for the consumer by the merchant. The third phase is for merchants to become comfortable enough with mobile money that they begin accepting mobile money as payment for their own goods,"said Monadjem.

Nomanini says consumers will gain from the greater availability of mobile money services and increased affordability, while operators will benefit from an increase from merchant-side acceptance of mobile money which will also increase customer usage.

The enabler for the integration with mobile money is Nomanini's second generation eLula terminal.

"Nomanini's system is integrated and instantly reconciles the merchant's mobile money account. It's a seamless experience for merchants, allowing for faster, easier transactions," concluded Monadjem.

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