Robust365 is contributing to Zambia’s Digital and Financial Inclusion through empowering micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs) to take control of their finances, make data driven decisions and achieve their business growth.
The tool allows small businesses to manage their finances, track quotations, invoices, income and expenses among other things. Its latest addition is a payment functionality.
“The financial technology solution we have created helps small businesses to manage their finances. Our system not only helps businesses manage finances but also allows payments. When our users send invoices, they directly receive payments on to their wallets,” Fredrick Alban, co-founder and CTO of Robust365.
Alban noted that while they started the development of their software in 2019, it at some point crushed and had to be redeveloped to meet the needs of the market.
“There are over 500 businesses using our platform. The main challenge we are facing is the fact that most small businesses have no records of their finances and are hesitant to migrate to digital. These, we are reaching out to and educating them to understand why they should digitize their business.”
He further revealed that low funding, limited technical skills and expertise are key barriers to Zambia and broadly Africa’s digitization and financial inclusion.
“Our market lacks technical knowledge. You find for example, we are failing to integrate the Mojaloop API on to our systems. It is not just about finances but more about the technical competence. We need to have the right technology and developers to build our FinTechs and boost our systems.”
Alban applauded the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative noting that “if it continues to operate over years, many start-ups which are still lagging behind will get a lot of achievements.”
Robust365 was featured on Day 26 of the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative; Zambia and Malawi edition. The roll-out of the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative in Zambia and Malawi followed its success in East Africa. Over the past 5 years, the 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative has featured over 200 FinTech stories from Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, and Rwanda. This initiative has also engaged hundreds of end-users and shared their stories with millions worldwide.
The primary objective of this initiative is to support and showcase innovative FinTech giants and start-ups from across Africa, with a focus on promoting financial inclusion and economic growth, in addition to giving start-ups access to the resources they need to develop new and innovative financial solutions that can benefit underserved populations. Such resources include but are not limited to Level One Project guidelines, Mojaloop Open Source Software and Inclusive Finance systems, etc.