TenkiPay

Sierra Leone, a west African country that clearly shows great potential in digitization has a population of approximately 7 million people according to the 2015 population and housing census by Statistics Sierra Leone, yet clearly has a grey spot with efficiency in payment and financial services. This makes the country a promising market for digitized financial services given that 87% of the population is financially excluded (BSL, 2017), meaning they either do not have access to any kind of financial service or mobile money is the only type of financial service available to them. Today, when people want to pay for services like paying tuition fees, pay for a simple registration, or other forms, because of the lack of efficient digital payment systems, they may need to move around with a huge quantity of cash and in many cases stand in queues at banks to pay their fees or pay for the form they require. We agree it is not efficient and certainly not a convenient way to make transactions.

Studies show that many people in sub-Saharan Africa without a bank account have a basic mobile phone. In 1998, there were fewer than 4 million mobiles on the continent. Today, we have more than 500 million. 

In Sierra Leone, businesses now have an online presence with the aim to increase their customer base. At the same time, they most often prefer to make transactions for services and goods online to improve accessibility for current and new clients/customers, accountability and save time for their clients/customers. This proves to reduce the overall cost spent per item by clients/customers whilst providing the business with structured data which most businesses lack and the lack of such data poses to be a serious situation most businesses encounter. 

However payment for these goods or services to complete business transactions whilst ensuring customer convenience has been a challenge with either in-person payment, bank transfer, or mobile money currently the only ways to complete the process 

Since the majority of the population in Sierra Leone is unbanked without debit or credit cards, using payment APIs like PayPal and Stripe for VISA or Mastercard is not viable for businesses, as these potential customers (the unbanked) do not have access to these methods of payment services. The only means of digital money available to them is mobile money, we therefore believe that the online payment platform, TenkiPay will satisfy a real business need in Sierra Leone. 

TenkiPay is a secure online payment platform for everyone (individuals, enterprises and organizations) anywhere. It integrates all your digital wallets (mobile money, bank accounts, etc) for easy transactions creating a direct link between the service provider and the beneficiary. TenkiPay will bridge that gap between the emerging internet businesses and the unbanked population by providing an easy secure accessible APIs for the following;

1. Accepting and Making Payments Online

2. Powering internet commerce

3. Providing an accounting report which is essential for businesses.

• The segment of the population without any form of bank account who actively engage in transactions daily. 
• Businesses selling products online with no direct payment method and accounting reports.
• Tourists with no form of bank accounts within a specific country but needs a real time access to expend when needed.

TenkiPay enables cashless transaction whilst providing a platform for the unbanked to be financially incsluded.

Our Team is clear on one priority- Making it possible for all to be financially included in Sierra Leone and beyond. Our team is blessed with multi disciplines from diverse backgrounds who understand the struggle of access.

Sierra Leoneans traditionally transact with legal tender, and a huge proportion of this transaction is not accounted for and no data on these transactions is available to the central bank, also a segment of the population does engage in online shopping and remittance within the country and beyond. A solution for these challenges is what TenkiPay has addressed.

There is a growing demand for online shopping and delivery of these products is the bottleneck, so our product will target the service delivery businesses where payment and delivery of a physical product is not necessarily the case.

69

We hope to benefit intellectually (Technical and culturally) and financially which is extremely needed for scaling.

TenkiPay provides key reports needed by businesses and allows for seamless transfers and checkouts. This solution also allows money from different sources such as bank cards, mobile money, etc, which provides an opportunity to move money across boarder and platforms seamlessly.

We aim to enable seamless transfer across borders with a transaction fee within the platform. This will ensure all account holders access their money anywhere and at any time.

1. Increased proportion of small-scale industries in total using TenkiPay as an industry value added product.
2. Increased proportion of adults (15 years and older) with access to a bank or other financial institution or with a mobile-money-service provider by using TenkiPay.
3. Reduced remittance costs as a proportion of the amount remitted.
4. Increased proportion of the population living in households with access to basic financial services.

Our solution is inclusive, allowing non bank account holders to access financial services and providing institutions a ledger to manage all payments. We will make available TenkiPay through other necessary products to provide more real use case to the general public and institutions alike.

Young professionals with more online presence are a segment of our target. Together with high e-commerce activities, they also are most often limited with payment options.

A Payment Gateway and online payment platform (software). TenkiPay utilizes languages such as Laravel, PHP, Goland, Nodejs to deliver a solution for all.

Our team includes 3 male and 1 female. All members of the team contributes equally in almost all areas of work.

Our solution ensures that most people can safely access financial services.

We will make available tools that solve major challenges such as ticketing etc, which will serve as a vehicle whilst we make partnerships with online businesses and become a payment option giving real use cases and a reason to load your TenkiPay.

Revenue will come from the payout process. All payouts will cost 3% of the total transaction. This allows remittance and payment easy due to the elimination of the "fee per transaction" model.

Our tool will provide businesses with an accounting solution while capturing all customers' purchases. This allows business owners to understand the need of the customers.

We aim to diversify our portfolio and invest in profitable industries to provide the resources needed for TenkiPay's operation as we scale up. This ensures a robust testing and agile design that caters for all.

We have processed NLe 11,000+ so far for Sports Zone and raised about $ 8,000 from service provided to clients. Revenue raised from service provision is used to support business operations, TenkiPay, and other proprietary technologies.