Nomanini,a firm that combines physical vouchers with direct, electronic delivery to informal retailers has launched operations in Mozambique after sealing a deal with a local prepaid mobile distributor in the country, helping it fuel its continued African growth and powering cash-based transactions for more and more unbanked and underbanked populations.
This launch comes just weeks after the firm said it has raised over in series B funding.
According to Nomanini CEO Vahid Monadjem, “We are thrilled to find partners in Mozambique. Their management team has decades of experience in prepaid distribution collectively. We look forward to learning from their experience. Their selection of Nomanini as their technology provider of choice is a great validation of our technology and approach.”
Founded in 2011, Nomanini uses cloud-based transaction backend developed on Google App Engine with proprietary POS (Point Of Sale) hardware designed for, manufactured and managed in Africa to intersect cash-based transactions in informal markets and cloud-based platforms for enterprises in emerging markets where the firm says over 95% transactions are cash-based such as China, India, Brazil and Russia.
Nomanini facilitates cash payments in informal markets, electronically distributes mobile airtime, takes mobile money transactions, takes payments for prepaid electricity, microloans and insurance premiums among others by leveraging the power of mobile technology to serve the poor and unbanked.
Chief Commercial Officer Kuda Mushambi said,“Nomanini is pleased with the validation of our platform as a general payment platform applicable in multiple countries. We are looking forward to continuing our expansion across the continent, then across the world and into varied verticals such as electronic mobile money terminals, vending for prepaid electricity and cash collection for micro-loans.”
After a small-scale pilot in Mozambique’s capital city of Maputo which started in late 2013, the partners realised that the Nomanini Terminal and Platform was the perfect solution to increase their sales network and volume. Nomanini’s POS terminals were selected because of their mobility, rugged design, long battery life and speed of service, which enables vendors to sell mobile airtime quickly in places previously unreachable such as on the streets and on public transport like share taxis and trains.
The firm expects to expand its operations to several hundred terminals over the next few months and looks to have several thousand terminals providing consumers access to mobile prepaid across Mozambique. The firm already has operates in Nigeria and Ghana and is set to expand to Namibia, Guinea, Morocco and Zambia.