Developing Digital Payment Infrastructure for Africa’s Public Transport Industry

Mary Mwangi is the CEO and co-founder of Data Integrated, a tech firm from Kenya looking to digitize companies and promote contactless payments. Africa.com was introduced to the work that Data Integrated does during a call for entries for, Brilliant African Innovations against COVID-19 competition.

Mwangi was selected as one of the top six entrants who would get a chance to pitch her innovation and illustrate how it eases daily life during lockdowns. The Lion’s Den styled competition was adjudicated by an esteemed panel of judges and held before a virtual audience of more than 2,000 c-suite executives who attended the webinar.

Mwangi developed a passenger counting, booking and cashless payment system that aims to reduce overcrowding and the need to transact with cash when using public transport. The invention won a joint second prize which included a cash prize and mentorship.

Watch Mary’s pitch video:

Meet Data Integrated’s Mary Mwangi – Kenya

What challenge are you addressing?

We are working to automate and digitize the SME payment infrastructure in Sub Saharan Africa with a focus on the public transport sector.

What is your solution to this challenge?

Data Integrated has built a payment integration platform to connect businesses with digital payments; be it banks or the mobile money systems. We also provide the automation of the business process around these payment systems.

We seek comprehensive understanding of our clients and how they are running their payment and selling process. We work together to build a digital system that directly connects their business with the payment processes such as a point of sale devices, digital cash register, mobile apps, and analog phone-based applications.

What makes your solution unique?

We have in depth knowledge of the market and build specific products up and down the value chain within the specific industry, currently, we are concentrating our work in the transport sector and have built a transport management platform which consists of a full view of the business and passenger interactions.

Who should be using this innovation?

Data Integrated targets short distance commuters within public transport in Sub Saharan Africa and the transport industry players, including bus companies, owners, employees, and regulators within the industry.

What kind of impact will your innovation or solution have on your immediate community?

The platform aims to promote the use of cashless and contactless transactions as countries across the world gear up for a new normal created by the pandemic; as a result increasing transparency and efficiency within the public transport sector.

What key message do you hope to get across?

Data Integrated wants to continue its work with local transport companies employing the mEpesi platform to build solutions that matter to the local users and transportation industry in Africa and beyond.  The company has recently added a transit solution provider for the region and we are very excited about this certification and we look forward to continuing to develop solutions that matter and meet global transit standards.

What’s the one takeaway that you want readers of this article to leave with?

We are creating local solutions with local developer teams and partners and we would like to find more partners within the region to collaborate to continue digitization on the platform. Africa needs more collaboration to solve Africa’s transport digital infrastructure challenges.

For more information, visit their WEBSITE

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