The emergence of ever more innovative and entrepreneurial thinking has kept us hopeful in recent months as we navigate unprecedented economic challenges. Despite the turbulent economy, home-based businesses such as bakeries, hairdressers and grocery delivery start-ups have taken off, allowing entrepreneurs and small business owners to survive and even thrive under the limiting circumstances.
Yet statistics show SMEs are the first to shut their doors when faced with hardships and devastating pressures such as the Covid-19 pandemic. In July, a McKinsey report entitled “How SA SMEs can survive and thrive post Covid-19" predicted that about 60% of SMEs will close before the crisis is over. Despite the headway made in financial services and payments SA is still a largely cash-driven economy. This is most evident among small businesses, which use notes and coins as their preferred exchange of value. With cash there’s convenience but no promise of security from a personal and counterfeit perspective. Then there’s the long-term risk of not being in a position to grow the business and build personal wealth.
These are just a few of the examples of the payments challenges out there. But we’re tackling these together, as an industry, to introduce a faster and more immediate way of transacting. The wide use of smartphones presents a window of opportunity to leapfrog technologies while responding to the need on the ground.