Pyypl – pronounced “people” – the international payment technology and financial services provider using blockchain in its core systems, has announced the commercial rollout of its social, micro-investment platform for self-employed entrepreneurs and micro-SMEs in Africa.
The rollout is commencing via an initial partnership with Kenya’s Tuk Tuk Operators Network (“TTON”), a pan-African mobility network connecting Tuk Tuk operators across 47 counties. Pyypl’s platform will accelerate the digitalisation of these operators via Pyypl’s virtual debit cards, which will directly, and positively impact TTON’s growth.
The partnership will support TTON’s long-term vision of connecting three-wheeler players in Africa’s informal transport industry to a common socio-economic, sustainable, inclusive mobility platform under structured transport Savings and Credit Co-Operative Societies (SACCOs). SACCOs encourage saving and help members obtain affordable loans that otherwise might not have been accessible.
The partnership and rollout follow a significant thirteen months for Pyypl. The company’s revenues tripled in the four-month period October 2022 to January 2023, inclusive, and were eight times greater than 2021. This revenue upsurge bookended a year of notable operational KPIs: the company’s App 2.0 launched in eight different languages, its prepaid card was transacted at 30,000 different merchants across 150 countries and 100 different currencies. Pyypl also handled over 1 million customer chats.
Antti Arponen, CEO of Pyypl, said: “We are proud to partner with the Tuk Tuk Operators Network to provideshort-term, fair and transparent investment alongside Pyypl’s leading digital financial services to the benefit of its members across Africa.
“Community groups form the core of Kenyan society, representing taxi drivers, delivery riders, farmers, youth development groups, and Tuk Tuk and Boda Boda riders, among others. With over 126,000 TTON members representing more than 1.6 million Boda Boda operators across Kenya, this demonstrates the huge opportunity for Pyypl’s debentures platform as we build out partnerships across multiple African countries.”
As relationship organisations such as SACCOs and trade unions maintain high levels of trust with their strong communities, Pyypl’s debentures platform aims to build out a social ecosystem for entrepreneurs across Africa and improve access to digital financial services for informal employment sectors.
While currently working directly with trade organisations, Pyypl expects investors in the near future to include larger organisations such as World Bank and International Finance Corporation.
Vincent M Were, Network Lead for TTON, said: “In the process of seeking meaningful partnerships to grow the sector, the Tuk Tuk and Boda Bodas of Kenya appreciate the engagement of Pyypl and their services. Access to debentures via our connection with Pyypl has opened a new window of opportunity for our transport ecosystem, meeting our most critical financial needs while in line of service.
“This oiling of transport business activities through Pyypl’s micro-investment product has contributed positively to the growth of our economy as a sector and even as a country. We look forward to a time when both the three-wheeler and two-wheeler sectors in Kenya will all have fully subscribed to Pyypl’s debenture platform.”
Pyypl’s strong capital base is turbocharging regional growth as the company executes its mission to offer financial services to the 800 million financially underserved smartphone users across Africa and the Middle East. Pyypl does this via internationally accepted virtual and physical prepaid cards, instant domestic and international user-to-user transfers, plus remittances to 42 currency destinations.
