Extended load shedding is now commonplace and continues to play havoc with small business owners’ ability to trade, especially those businesses who haven’t been able to afford alternative power solutions.

“One way to assist our client’s power shortage woes is to provide flexible and affordable funding for the purchase of alternative power supplies,” says adumo chief operating officer Tom Morrison.

Clients who trade through the adumo payment devices have the opportunity to use “adumo’s retail capital” service.

“Instead of taking out a bank loan, which is paid monthly at a fixed instalment, at a certain interest rate, customers can apply for funding from adumo, based on their monthly sales through their payment device,” Morrison says.

Payback is linked to the merchant’s monthly card sales, which provides flexibility and affordability. “We believe this offering works in everyone’s favour — should the merchant receive higher monthly card sales, they will pay back more, without penalty, but if their cards sales are low, they are not contractually bound by an instalment they can’t afford that month.”

Payment devices are in themselves helpful when there is load shedding. Certain devices offer eight hours of battery life and a backlit screen, so merchants can continue to accept cards payments when there is no power. All adumo payment devices offer multi-network redundancy, which actively seeks an optimal connection to cellphone towers, considering that some tower batteries may not sustain the power downtime. In addition, many of the offered devices offer Wi-Fi as well as Ethernet options to remove the reliance on cellphone towers.

Affordable

Morrison says adumo’s clients are not sitting on their hands regarding the power crisis.

“Through the applications received from our capital product, we are recording an increase in funding requests for alternative power solutions for their businesses. Self-provisioning of power will become the norm for business continuity in South Africa and with increasing interest rates, we are pleased to provide a funding solution that is affordable and flexible.”

About adumo
African fintech company adumo is South Africa’s largest independent payments processor and services clients across 13 countries in Africa. Adumo exceeds a processing value of R80-billion/year in formal markets across South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. The company provides small and medium enterprises with a financial services platform that enables an ecosystem of integrated value-added financial and business services, with the aim to let clients get paid, simplify their payments environment, and to grow and optimise their businesses.