Fin-tech company E-genezeb to tryout e-payment services in universities
A newly established local financial technology solutions provider has prioritized university students as entry points for a digital payment services ranging from mobile banking to customized e-bill handlings.
Resel Pick-Pick ICT Technologies PLC – founded with a ten million birr initial capital – has introduced e-Genzeb, a digital financial platform, to enter the fin-tech business with the ultimate goals of creating suitable and unbounded cashless transactions.
Elshalom Endrias, chief operating officer of e-Genezeb, told reporters on Thursday that the platform is rolling out across public and private universities. Elshalom said that the digital payment platform handles transactions with a minimum denomination deemed appropriate for the economy of college students. Hence, withdrawals, deposits, top-ups, airtime services, money transfers and the like are some of the services offered by the digital platform.
The college centered platform accordingly targets university staffs and other employees. For the digital service to prevail; kiosks will be deployed in and around 154 campuses throughout the universities, Elshalom noted. Currently, six kiosks have been installed around the campuses of Addis Ababa University (AAU).
Mr. Alemu, co-founder of e-Genzeb pointed out that, apart from college communities, customized digital financial solutions will be launched to cater for the urban cosmopolitan communities and the industrialists. Hence, e-billings, e-pensions, e-tickets for bus commutes, air ticket reservations, meter taxi, seat reservations for movie and theaters, post services, groceries and shopping, and other services will be launched soon, he noted.
In just two months of the launch of the e-payment system, from a single window shop, some 200,000 birr has been transacted across the college communities in AAU, He stated. In the coming five years, e-Genzeb is expected to have some five million subscribers with estimated 50 billion birr potential transactions.
Pick-Pick Technologies is a startup fin-tech firm that comes into the playing field with sister companies such as Pick-Pick Meter Taxi and I-Drive – a human resource company that targets to certify drivers.
The inception and introduction of the digital financial technologies with the emancipation of e-payments has seen a fast growth as transactions and consumerism elapsed in the country. The likes of Kifiya lehulu, Hello-Cash, M-Birr, CBE-Birr, Amole and now e-Genzeb have evolved in the digital economy handling billions of cashless transactions. However, with less than 10 million people having active bank accounts in Ethiopia, the services of digitized finance is yet to be seen as a major player in the day-to-day life. It took more than a decade for Ethiopian digital payment system to become visible while, M-Pessa, Kenya’s highly regarded and most valued electronic payments platform flourished to widely serve close to 40 million subscribers.
Source: Ethiopian Reporter
By Birhanu Fikade
