2020 is shaping up to be an important year for local fintech startup Ozow (formerly i-Pay), which recently surpassed a significant milestone as it has processed R10 billion in transactions on its platform.

It has taken the company five years to reach that target and, in 2020, the firm plans to double its number of customers, as well as conduct a rapid expansion of its business.

As such, Ozow will likely be hoping to move out of startup status in the coming year and be one of the leading fintech companies in the country.

Helping Ozow achieve this is the increasing popularity of online retailers locally. To date the firm estimates that over 4 million consumers have used its services for local ecommerce sites like Takealot, MR D and Superbalist. It’s these kinds of numbers which will assist its next venture into the equity market near the end of 2020 to fund its planned expansion.

“South Africa is at the forefront of digital payments on the African continent, with triple digits growth in the last 12 months. It took us two years and nine months to process our first billion Rand, but only 1 month and 27 days to process the last billion. By November, we are looking at processing a minimum of R1.5bn per month alone,” explains CEO Thomas Pays. 

The CEO if of the opinion that digital payment platforms are a game changer as far as the country’s economy is concerned, especially as it would help local SMEs improve their cash flow and enter new markets, as well as allow residents to pay their municipalities more easily.

“Remove friction and you’ll create stickyness: the easier you make it for your customers to pay for your products and services, the more they’ll buy from you. And in South Africa, where millions of people don’t have a debit or credit card and don’t feel safe paying by cash, giving them another payment option opens up entire new markets for every business and institution that needs regular payments to survive,” he adds.

With cash, EFTs and credit cards still the preferred payment methods in South Africa, Ozow is hoping its platform becomes more favoured, especially given the speed and convenience it offers.

“We allow businesses and consumers to do automated online payments in under 8 seconds without having to register or repeatedly enter card details – and for businesses, at a fraction of the costs,” says Pays.

“When we allow people who do not have debit or credit cards to pay online, we draw people into the mainstream economy. This isn’t just changing the commerce landscape. It’s changing people’s lives,” he concludes.

Having achieved a sharp rise in only four years, it will be interesting to see what Ozow’s aggressive expansion plans yield in 2020.