Ukheshe And Komuniti SA Collaborate To Make Digital Banking Services More Accessible
Ukheshe And Komuniti SA Collaborate To Make Digital Banking Services More Accessible. African communities have historically found innovative ways of collaborating and combining individual financial resources for the good of the many. Stokvels and funeral savings are just two examples of community initiatives to which everyone contributes and from which everyone benefits. These and other savings and community wealth creation mechanisms are often entered into without proper banking and financial services resources, and many individual members who contribute have no bank account.
Now, Komuniti, an app which facilitates stokvel, funeral donations, and stokvel borrowings, in addition to offering a host of other financial products and services, is set to change all that. Komuniti in collaboration with banking as a service (BaaS) and embedded finance enabler, Ukheshe bringing digital banking to more people in South Africa.
Komuniti is part of the new generation of neobanks, providing a revolutionary digital banking alternative to traditional banks. Designed to empower customers through comprehensive financial solutions, Komuniti enables users to gain control over their finances, support community causes, and achieve their financial goals, all through a single app.
Neobanks are disruptors in the financial services sector – start-ups that have not had to pivot or effect a drastic digital transformation. These new financial apps and services have been built from scratch using the latest innovative technology to drive them. They offer easy, affordable, secure online financial and banking services, transforming the way people manage their money – opening up the digital global economy to those who were previously excluded.
Komuniti is filling a gap in the banking market by providing online virtual accounts, virtual payments, stokvel savings, burial books for charitable donations, instant borrowing, and convenient deposit and withdrawal options. Komuniti has created a digital financial ecosystem where those currently underserved by traditional banking can be exposed to alternative saving and income streams.
In today’s digitally driven world, traditional banking methods often fall short of meeting the diverse financial needs of individuals and communities. A large proportion of the African population has remained unbanked, and despite a high penetration of smartphones on the continent, many people have remained underserved by any formal financial service. Komuniti set out to offer a solution to this challenge but faced challenges of their own early on in the development stages.
“Without investors, we struggled to raise finance but through sheer will and determination, we have raised funds ourselves from our own pockets to make Komuniti a reality,” says Nick Dutuma, one of the co-founders and CEO at Komuniti. In addition, the process of implementation was difficult as some of the processing of payments had to be done outside the app. “It’s difficult to build trust as a new money platform and it takes time to gain the confidence of potential new clients, so it was critical to ensure the integrity of our services from the beginning,” explains Dutuma.
