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SA tech start-up poised for expansion into rural African communities

Johannesburg - Mobile application and software development start-up, Velvet Technologies is eyeing expansion into African rural communities after a three-year self-funded success in the industry. 

Velvet Technologies focuses on financial technology and the inclusion of hardware and software in developing markets on the African continent. 

The Johannesburg-based company provides solutions to encourage growth among small and medium businesses in developing countries especially those businesses based in rural areas with lack of infrastructure. 

“Solutions we provide include payment solutions, point of sale solutions and data analysis and gathering,” director and owner of the Velvet Technologies, Breyten Rooiland told Fin24. 

Rooiland said that the company had been providing software to some companies in Africa and in South America, but was looking to expand further into the continent. 

“We have been operating for the past 3 years, spending most of our time doing research and development in South America and West Africa.

“These markets have helped us to understand that the same method cannot always be applied.

“Some of the African countries we provide technology to do not have the infrastructure that South Africa has, we have to adapt technology to those countries and markets,” Rooiland said. 

He added that the value customers saw in the products was the simplicity and ease of use. 

“The highlight for us as a company was being able to successfully develop a mobile payment solution that can assist consumers and retailers in communities to transact with each other in a safe and cost effective manner. 

“The beauty of this achievement is that we did it while being self-funded with absolutely no support other than the support of the communities we were doing our research and development in,” he told Fin24.

Velvet Technologies recently exhibited at the Global Entrepreneurship Congress, held in Johannesburg. 

Rooiland told Fin24 that during their exhibition time, companies and organisations from other parts of world ordered units for shipping to countries abroad.

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