Technology expands financial choices for more consumers and businesses. To swipe, tap and make online transfers is liberating and empowering. But it also increases complexity.
When money flows through disconnected channels, transactions are recorded differently, causing fragmented data, mismatches and often considerable manual intervention to balance the books. Businesses need fast and reliable reconciliation, a problem that Intellergy solves with its cloud-based platform, Hakela, a platform Intellergy built and later sharpened through the AWS Equity Equivalent Investment Programme (AWS EEIP).
"We identified that the essential services industry, specifically with reference to payments, is broken at the reconciliation layer," Suman Moodley, founder and CEO of Intellergy, told ITWeb TV Biz. "Money comes in, money goes out, but the books don't balance. They must align. And that's exactly what Hakela does. It takes a look at what we call card-present payments, online digital payment formats, and more, bringing them into a single platform, one view."
Making real-time reconciliation accessible
Hakela takes its name from the Tsonga word for paying or dispensing money. A truly South African innovation, Hakela serves businesses across the spectrum, from small companies to large enterprises and public sector services. The platform resulted from Intellergy's pivot from consultancy towards providing fintech products, requiring Intellergy to shift its mindset.
"The hard part was pivoting away from consultancy. You go from thinking in projects to thinking in products – that's a real shift in how you apply your mind," said Suman.
They identified three critical components to ensure Hakela's success: reliability, security and governance and compliance.
Teaming up with AWS
To meet these criteria, Intellergy built a cloud-native platform on AWS, the cloud provider that met those requirements. This choice led to applying to the AWS EEIP.
"We realised we needed those three components to take the product forward. When we launched in 2022, we were brought into the AWS EEIP programme – and that gave us the commitment and structure we needed,” said Suman.
AWS EEIP supports high-potential black-owned technology businesses in South Africa. It provides a structured environment where participating companies gain access to skills across technical and business areas, guided by performance requirements that bolster success, upskilling and employment opportunities.
AWS EEIP's role in sharpening Intellergy's focus
Through the AWS EEIP, Suman and his team gained access to educational and mentorship resources. It influenced everything from upskilling to how the company operates. A particular personal advantage for him was receiving CEO mentorship, helping Suman see the value of having a democratised environment with a management team, moving away from founders making every decision.
This type of business maturity is a hallmark AWS EEIP impact, helping smaller companies professionalise and grow their market presence. Qualifying for AWS EEIP required founder and staff interviews, presenting business areas such as finance, and demonstrating specific requirements such as an ability to work with new talent like graduates. Taking inspiration from Amazon's culture, AWS EEIP applicants also wrote an essay detailing their motivation to join, a process that helped Suman sharpen his vision.
AWS EEIP participation comes with great demands to ensure that participants are set up for success.
"The programme has a very regulated, controlled and committed structure. It brought us a business discipline layer that we needed. We did the work; we investigated with customers, explored ideas and brought it across. That business structure and discipline layer were really what brought us forward. It enabled us to do the weird and wonderful things that allow Hakela to prosper."
Building SA's fintech talent
Intellergy has since attracted talented individuals from graduates and the fintech sector. It also deepened its market engagement, particularly in townships, informal settlements and hostels where many of its customers' businesses operate. This has also created social impact, including career days.
Beyond that, the programme also enabled Intellergy and the Hakela platform to galvanise what Suman calls their TEA: trust, expertise and authority, leveraging cloud infrastructure to provide the security, governance and performance elements that make companies rely on Hakela for their payment reconciliation and strategies. Supported by AWS and emboldened by more skills and opportunities, Intellergy is an example of what cloud-powered fintech can do for the country.
“The cloud has broken down the barriers to entry. It's democratised and levelled the playing field, so smaller fintechs like us can do things that were once out of reach – and that's exactly what we're doing with Hakela on AWS.”
You can view the full video here.
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