Interswitch
Group, Africa’s leading technology-driven company focused on the digitization
of payments in Africa, has announced the launch of Quickteller Business, a new
comprehensive corporate solution focused on empowering businesses of all sizes,
facilitate payments and manage transactions from anywhere in the world – through
one, simple integrated platform.
Complementing Interswitch’s existing Quickteller
platform, Quickteller Business will broaden its payment management capabilities
to businesses and merchants of all sizes, allowing them to access a wide range
of integrated payment offerings, ranging from disbursements to value financing.
The addition of Quickteller Business to the existing consumer platform creates
a unique, differentiated offering with potential to accelerate value creation
for large corporates, MSMEs and consumers.
This will be done leveraging Quickteller’s significant existing consumer
base with
over five million
consumers already using Quickteller for a variety of retail
payments in countries such as Nigeria, Kenya and Gambia.
The launch of Quickteller Business further expands the reach
of Interswitch’s popular e-commerce solution to a broader audience of business
users, helping to facilitate growth in the burgeoning SME sector across Africa.
In the last five years, Nigeria’s vast SME sector has contributed an average of
48% to national GDP – according to a PwC survey[1] – and
accounts for about 50% of industrial jobs and almost 90% of activities in the
manufacturing sector.
With one of the fastest growing emerging middle classes in
the world, Nigeria represents a significant growth opportunity, however almost
40% of the population remain financially excluded. Furthering access to
electronic payment systems for businesses has the potential to increase the
contribution of SME commercial activity in economies across the continent.
According to a survey conducted by the
National Bureau of Statistics and the SME Development Agency of Nigeria
(SMEDAN) in 2018, over 41.5 million MSME businesses operate in Nigeria. 55% of
this 41.5 million are retail and wholesalers which make up the market we are
targeting.
With the COVID-19 pandemic causing disruptions to businesses
of all sizes around the world, the new platform will help African business
owners prosper, by enabling access to effective and convenient digital payment
and transaction solutions and technologies. Quickteller Business will also
offer a three-month zero transaction fee incentive for SMEs that sign up now,
as part of its launch offer.
On the launch of the new platform, Akeem Lawal, Divisional
Chief Executive Officer, Payments Processing at Interswitch Group said: “The SME sector
is a potential game-changer for economic growth and development in Africa.
Interswitch has been at the forefront of digital payment innovation across the
continent, enabling individuals, businesses, and governments to transact more
efficiently over the last 17 years. The
evolution of our payment and e-commerce offerings into Quickteller Business
represents a significant long-term shift in both our business and merchant
operating model. Through the integrated platform, SMEs, financial services
agents and large corporates can better navigate the challenges around payments
collections, allowing them to focus on their core business with their diverse
transaction needs taken care of through the versatility of the new Quickteller
Business offering.
“The platform offers a comprehensive,
integrated, payment solution that allows businesses to receive and track
payments, generate e-invoices, as well as dispute management. It is an
innovative and exciting payment solution that will benefit all business owners.
Through this new offering, we are
continuing our mission to make payments a seamless part of our everyday lives,” he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment