Vodacom Financial Services Debuts VodaLend for SMMEs

Vodacom Financial Services has unveiled its latest lending product, VodaLend | Business Cash Advance, which provides finance to smaller unregistered businesses in need of quick access to short-term cash advances.

Offering finance between R3000 and R350 000 to customers using VodaPay point of sale (POS) devices, Business Cash Advance complements VodaLend's range of lending products aimed at the SMME sector.

Vodacom Financial and Digital Services, Chief Officer Mariam Cassim, says that Business Cash Advance will further underpin the financial security of partner SMMEs. "It often happens that a small business has intra-month cash flow challenges. While the business is liquid over the long-term, occasionally it finds itself unable to meet short-term cash requirements. This is where our Business Cash Advance product comes into play."

Business Cash Advance provides funding for partner SMMEs that trade using VodaPay's POS devices, including VodaPay Max, E-Commerce Switch and VodaPay Chop-Chop QR code. Funding is offered to the SMME based on its monthly turnover and, if accepted, is paid to the company within 24 hours.

"Repayments are specifically designed to assist partner SMMEs by being linked to the amount of money the company earns every day. When the company is not trading, no repayments are required," adds Cassim.

To qualify, users of VodaPay's POS devices need to have been trading for four months or more, have a monthly turn-over of at least R3 000 (collected through the merchant's wallet, regardless of the acceptance mechanism) as well as doing 10 payment transactions per month on the defined payment rails. No company registration or VAT numbers are required. Businesses seeking finance must apply via Vodacom's SMME portal and from there, merchants can view the financing options on offer. Once the finance is approved, they can take it up whenever it is needed.

Non-qualifying VodaPay customers can also go to the SMME portal, where they are given a dashboard showing what they need to do in order to qualify. Once qualified, acceptance can be done in under two minutes.

Start-ups and SMMEs are the backbone of the economy and allowing them access to agile finance is essential to their success. In keeping with Vodacom's commitment to being a purpose driven business, VodaLend and the Business Cash Advance offering serves and strengthens the small business sector where it is most essential.

Cassim concludes, "This is another small step by Vodacom Financial Services to further build and stabilise the SMME sector - a key component to long-term growth of our economy. This sector is also vital to job creation in an environment where unemployment is unacceptably high."