Johannesburg, 20 Jun 2022
Running a business isn’t easy. Fortunately, tech companies are making it easier for all business owners to run and grow their businesses.
And if you’re expecting a Silicon Valley tech company with worthwhile yet dollar-based solutions, you’ll be pleasantly surprised. This fintech company is home-grown South African.
iKhokha is one of South Africa’s leading financial technology companies. Operating from its headquarters in Umhlanga, iKhokha is constantly developing solutions to help businesses rise.
iKhokha is best known for its card machines. But how are its devices different from traditional bank speedpoints?
In the past, businesses have paid rental fees to the banks for their card machines. With iKhokha, business owners can buy a device outright to avoid monthly rental fees.
Every financial services provider charges a transaction fee every time a card is swiped, tapped or inserted into a card machine.
iKhokha further incentivises merchants by dropping transaction rates (starting at 2.75%) the more they sell.
According to iKhokha co-founder Ramsay Daly, while card machines may be the tech company’s bread and butter, it’s just the first piece in iKhokha’s small business enablement puzzle.
“We started with card acceptance and through our journey we’ve realised there are other exciting areas that we can solve for,” says Daly.
Now, iKhokha is diversifying its offering to provide more business solutions.
For Chief Technology Officer Derek van Daal, iKhokha’s new range of online payment solutions can be a game-changer for small businesses.
“Fintech is an exciting space to be in right now,” says Van Daal.
“At iKhokha, we are building tech that is on par with top companies around the world,” says the former FNB Tech Lead.
Making an e-commerce entrance
Eager to prove its business tools aren’t only for brick-and-mortar stores, iKhokha has made a dramatic entrance into the e-commerce space after launching a series of digital products in recent months.
The first was the iK Pay Gateway, a payment gateway for WordPress (WooCommerce) that enables online businesses to accept debit and credit card payments via their websites.
Soon to be available on Wix, this payment gateway also offers impressive transaction rates, starting at 2.85% per transaction.
But what about those who don’t have a website or online store?
Taking note of the increased remote work and digital services, iKhokha set out to create an offering that’d enable merchants to get paid online without a fully-functioning online store.
Recently, iKhokha launched iK Pay Link on the free iKhokha app.
Using iK Pay Link, iKhokha merchants can send a payment link to a customer via social media, WhatsApp, SMS or e-mail. They can even add the link to digital invoices!
Digital products geared for growth
iKhokha also offers a way for all merchants to immediately increase their basket size to generate more income without any outlay. It’s called iK Vend, another nifty feature on the iKhokha app.
With iK Vend, merchants can sell digital services like prepaid airtime, data and SMS. They can also sell prepaid utilities and settle various bills, including traffic fines and DStv bills.
The company even offers qualifying merchants access to funding via iK Cash Advance, also housed in the iKhokha app.
Similar to a short-term loan, a cash advance gives businesses a cash injection when they need it most – helping to avoid cash flow issues, order stock, cover a shortfall or upgrade equipment.
Best of all, the iK Cash Advance incurs no compound interest and is repaid with a percentage of future card sales. It’s a popular product as over 65% of cash advance users choose to take another cash advance once paid back.
As iKhokha continues to grow, the business promises to add more products to the physical and digital payments space to empower and uplift those who have taken the leap into entrepreneurship.
“Our goal is to make our merchants’ lives easier to enable them to focus on their businesses,” says Daly.
Visit www.ikhokha.com for more information.
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