Local App Friday; Paybills.co.zm

I got the opportunity to sit down with Wendy, the Marketing Brand Manager, from Cellulant to find out a little more about www.paybills.co.zm. I had stumbled across Paybills through their social media advertising, and sometimes you do have doubts.

Who are Paybills?
Paybills.co.zm are an online payment product from Cellulant that originally made money from selling ringtones #thegoodolddays. Cellulant, are a leading payments ecosystem in Africa.

What does Paybills do?
Paybills, is an online payment platform that uses your VISA or Mastercard to pay for various utilities from the comfort of your web browser. The platform allows you to forego queues or hunt for a talktime dealer and use your online account for payments.

How long has Paybills been in Zambia?
Paybills.co.zm are new to the Zambian market, having gone live 4 weeks ago. They have good traction due to their social media presence and word of mouth referrals.

What can I pay for?
The merchants whose services you can pay for using Paybills are

• Multichoice (GoTV, DSTV)
• Airtel
• MTN
• Zamtel
• Zuku
• Zesco

Paybills.co.zm are working to add more merchants to their platform to make our lives as easy as 1-2-3, her words, not mine.

The full press release:

BARCLAYS BANK ZAMBIA LAUNCHES NEW eCOMMERCE PAYMENTS SITE POWERED BY CELLULANT

Lusaka – Barclays Bank Zambia Plc has partnered with Cellulant, a leading payments ecosystem in Africa,to develop paybills.co.zm, a new e-commerce site for the Zambian market. Paybills.co.zm combines the ease of online payments with the accessibility of card payments, giving customers freedom to pay their bills and purchase airtime using Visa or MasterCard anytime and anywhere.

The functionality of paybills.co.zm gives customers ease of purchase with transactions completed within minutes. The site employs the latest technology to ensure that transactions are fast, secure andconvenient.

Cellulant Group Chief Commercial Officer, David Waithaka, in describing the service said “it is of utmostimportance that customers are afforded an easy experience which gives the user total control and safetyin payments wherever they choose to use the site. The versatility of the site allows users to pay bills or buy airtime for family or friends from the comfort of their homes or office, removing the worry of missed or late bills.”

Barclays Bank Zambia Acting Retail Director, Mwewa Besa, said that the Bank will continue to engage with various stakeholders to introduce products and services that ease the banking experience of its customers.

“Barclays is excited to introduce a service which can be accessed 24/7 by Barclays and non-Barclays customers with a Visa or MasterCard using the internet anywhere in the world. The creation of www.paybills.co.zm is another industry first by the Bank demonstrating Barclays’ commitment to putting customers at the core of its operations. The site is easy to use and has been enhanced with the latest in technology to ensure that our customers’ privacy and security is preserved. Barclays will continue to engage with various stakeholders to ensure that more companies are enlisted on the Paybills site to give the public a convenient way of shopping and paying bills” Mwewa Besa added.

Barclays will continue to lead the way through investment in innovative banking solutions which speak to customers’ banking needs and develop products and services which enhance their banking experience.

Barclays has in the recent past cemented its position as the pioneer in the introduction of cutting edge banking solutions some of which include:

 Zambia’s first Kwacha Credit Card which can be used in VISA accepting countries and platforms.

 Introduction of Chip and Pin enabled Debit and Credit cards giving real time security alerts sent to customers’ mobile phones for transactions on main accounts.

 Retrenchment insurance cover for salary account holders to cushion our customers in the unlikely event of retrenchment.

 Cash Back on Point of Sale (POS) machines in key retail outlets – Shoprite and Pick n Pay.

 Mobile Point of Sale (mPOS) terminals offering our customers wider and flexible transaction modes.

 Cash Send money transfer service to both Barclays and non-Barclays customers.

 Branch paperless solutions making it easier for customers to carry out transactions without filling-in paperwork.

The introduction of paybills.co.zm has repositioned Barclays Bank Zambia towards achieving its goal of providing customers with innovative banking solutions. The Bank continues to work at being the bank of choice and the recent award of ‘2016 Best Retail Bank in Zambia’ conferred by the Asian Banker attests to this. The Asian Banker Excellence in Retail Financial Services Awards Programme is the undisputed performance benchmark of the best retail banks in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

Currently www.paybills.co.zm is facilitating payment for DSTV, DSTV Box Office, GOTv, Zuku and Zesco, and provides airtime purchase for MTN, Airtel and Zamtel. Barclays Bank Zambia and Cellulant aim to add more companies to the payment ecosystem in the near future.