Africa-based technology company Khonology will be collaborating with White Label Crowdfunding (WLCF), a UK-based software-as-a-service company that creates, launches and hosts crowdfunding platforms, as part of its global expansion programme. The programme includes working towards extending the ecosystem in Africa, incorporating fintech products that drive inclusion.
"Our collaboration will involve Khonology CEO Michael Roberts and his locally-trained team, taking care of the professional services involved in the projects; training, consultancy, project management, testing and support. WLCF, meanwhile, will undertake the development work, and license the product," explained WLCF.
Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people who each contribute a relatively small amount, typically via the Internet.
Roberts says that through this new partnership, the company plans to extend its international reach. "We look forward to recruiting and working with African clients, getting to know the market and implementing fintech initiatives. We will have a collaborative partnership engagement, whereby Khonology will leverage the technology to drive business growth and client benefit with a mature technology stack that has an amazing market record abroad. In addition, the partnership will help support the development of local skills and talent, which will in turn support the client community," he notes.
Khonology focuses on financial and technology literacy, with the aim of developing local talent to serve technology-driven industries. The company's client base includes all the main banks in South Africa.
The Khonology team delivers five key services to its clients including implementation and execution, strategy and advisory support, capacity and augmentation, learning and development, which refers to its Academy offering the services of specialised technologists, and enterprise solutions, which incorporate strategic partnerships for implementing company-wide systems. Fintech can play a significant role in two key opportunities: non-traditional lending in the formal sector and economic empowerment. If one achieves the necessary levels of financial literacy in informal and largely excluded communities, a number of new promising start-ups and entrepreneurs will emerge.
Roberts says there is a real-world opportunity across the business sector, where the excessively stringent lending criteria of the banks hinder start-ups and small growing businesses. "There are vast opportunities for establishing a number of alternative solutions for the large number of unbanked individuals across the African continent. The cost of banking in Africa is rather high, and crowdfunding and peer-to-peer offer up alternatives for both communities and businesses. I definitely see crowdfunding and peer-to-peer as major players in the world of fintech.
"The opportunity to add non-traditional products is very exciting; as sort of stokvels for communities, involving business lending for SMEs and entrepreneurs. Crowdfunding in this arena will definitely be an enabler to growth across Africa, and could also be the conduit for new innovation in terms of credit scoring and analysis," he noted.
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