We managed to catch up with Ramsay Daly, The Marketing Director at Emerge Mobile which is iKhokha’s parent company. iKhokha is a South African mobile Point of Sale (mPOS) solution that allows anyone with a smartphone to accept and process debit and credit card transactions.
This is what he had to say:
- Who would be the ideal target market for iKhokha and why?
iKhokha is ideally suited to Market Vendors, Personal Trainers, Plumbers, Electricians, Physio’s, Chiropractors, GP’s, Psychiatrists, taxi’s, Street vendors. I can go on and on. In short, we cater for any SME that needs to accept debit and credit card payments at affordable rates.
- What are some of the long term plans for the adapter?
The Edge adapters functionality will grow with each iteration of the unit.
Are you looking in expanding to other devices (Windows Mobile, Blackberry) in the future?
At the moment we’re only looking at IOS and Android. We will take each platform on a case by case basis depending on the market that we’re targeting.
- What sparked you to design this product?
There was nothing like it at the time and we realised that in South Africa, the small business sector had been completely overlooked by the traditional financial institutions with regard to acceptance of card payments. Today the costs for a small business to accept secure credit and debit card payments are excessive, complex and marred by subpar-service. We knew that if we could provide the same level of security with intuitively designed financial applications and great service, we’d have an attractive value proposition. That was when the really hard work began!
- Will there be additional features to the adapter in the future?
Yes, but I’m not telling what they are just yet.
- What are some of the goals you wish to achieve with the iKhokha adapter?
Our goal is to provide real value to the SME sector through the provision of financial products that people really need. We have some great products up our sleeve:)
- Any plans on going international?
Yes.
- What are the biggest issues experienced with the adapter and any plans on how to overcome them?
Luckily to date we’ve not had any issues reported from our customer base. Our goal is to improve the Edge Adapter over time with each iteration and stay focussed on providing the best merchant experience possible.
