By Abram Juice Ndlovu, Supervisor: Kasi Sales
For years, township businesses have been viewed through a single lens: financial inclusion. The assumption has been that the role of fintech in these spaces is charitable, bringing the unbanked into the system. That framing is changing, and for those of us working on the ground, the change is already here.
Township businesses are not a social project. They are a market.
The reality on the ground
The businesses operating in the township span a wider range than most people assume. Spaza shops, salons, funeral parlours, room rentals, Mashonisa’s, and creches are all active, revenue-generating enterprises. What many of them share is a reliance on cash, limited formal registration, and no digital infrastructure to speak of.
That combination creates both the challenge and the opportunity.
Contrary to what one might think, the sales cycle in this market is long. Before the technology conversation can even begin, there are certain segments which require a more thorough conversation around compliance. For example, a Mashonisa would need registration with the CIPC, the NCR and have an active business bank account to be properly structured into a microfinancier. That is a significant administrative burden for someone who has been running a profitable business without any of it. Our role, and that of our compliance partners, is to walk alongside these businesses through that journey, not just show up with a product.
It requires a lot of handholding. But it is worth it.
The case for going cashless
Infrastructure challenges in townships are real. Load shedding disrupts operations. ATM bombings cut off entire communities from cash overnight, leaving businesses on the back foot because their customers have no way to access funds. These moments make the case for cashless solutions more logical than any sales pitch.
There is also the internal trust problem. Many business owners are not always hands-on in their operations. There is no reliable record of daily takings when everything runs on cash. Digital systems change that. A business owner can log in and see every transaction through our reporting portals. That visibility improves both the efficiency of the business and the trust between owner and employees.
How the conversation is shifting
Townships are waking up to fintech. Different service providers moving into these spaces have created curiosity, and that curiosity opens doors. Social media has also illuminated the conversation; business owners are seeing what technology can do and they want to know more.
Workshops hosted by organisations like Business Culture have been particularly effective. Bringing compliance providers, registration support and technology companies into one room with business owners creates a different kind of conversation. Education happens faster, and the value proposition becomes clearer when multiple pieces of the puzzle are presented together.
Products built for this market
One of the most important adjustments we have made is pricing. The township market requires a personalised pricing structure that makes our products accessible to the smallest business. The base of our offering is strong, but affordability is what determines whether it reaches the people who need it.
We are also in development of a single multi-service terminal designed specifically for spaza shops. Currently, a typical spaza shop owner sits with three separate terminals, one for airtime, one for electricity, one for card transactions. That fragmentation is unnecessary. One device that handles all of it changes the economics and the experience of running that business entirely. The same logic applies beyond spaza shops, a salon offering airtime and voucher sales alongside its core services is creating an additional revenue stream and bringing more foot traffic through its doors.
The next five years
A significant amount of money moves through the township every day. Most of it is unaccounted for; no paper trails, no visibility, no data. That is changing. As more township businesses continue to formalize and adopt digital payment infrastructure, economic activity becomes visible for the first time.
For Altron FinTech, this is personal. We have spent more than 30 years helping visions grow into well-oiled organisations through our solutions. The opportunity now is to take those same systems to the corner store & the small business; by applying the same principles of efficiency, compliance and growth at a different scale.
The township economy is not waiting to be included; it has been quietly scaling for years. The question is whether the fintech industry is ready to meet it properly, not with branding exercises, but with real solutions that make a measurable difference to how these businesses operate every day.
Explore how Altron FinTech is helping township businesses formalise, grow and transact digitally: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0wsjJ50