Startup Mzansi Foundation is building Africa’s first digital bank for startups and entrepreneurs

01 Dec Startup Mzansi Foundation is building Africa’s first digital bank for startups and entrepreneurs

Startup Mzansi Is Building Africa’s First Digital Bank For Startups and Entrepreneurs through Blockchain, Crypto, IoT, Big Data and AI

Startup Mzansi Foundation, a startup ecosystem development non profit company launched in 2012 and registered in South Africa, is building a fully digital bank for startups and entrepreneus and the “first bank in Africa to specialize in financial services for startups and entrepreneurial projects using blockchain and crypto technologies ”

Startup Bank, aims to be an online scalable financial infrastructure combining features of modern banking, Artificial Intelligence, the Internet-of-Things, Big Data and blockchain-based technologies.

Speaking during the IBM Devx Kickstarter Programme Pitch Day, Sandile Shabangu indicated that Startup Bank seeks to leverage modern technologies such as biometrics, Big Data, and artificial intelligence, to provide banking and other financial services to individuals and small businesses.

Startup Bank said it will offer a paper-less, branch-less, fully digital selection of financial services such as deposits, credit financing and bank card issuance, but also services especially targeted at startups and entrepreneurial projects such as credits secured by cryptocurrencies as well as the ability to create of investment portfolios based on cryptocurrencies.

Startup Mzansi Foundation will be using a blockchain-based platform to provide payments.

A bank for the digital era
According to Sandile Shabangu, Founder and Chairman of Startup Mzansi Foundation and CEO of the proposed Startup Bank, changing consumer behavior and the rise of fintech are fueling a new era in banking. Advanced technologies and mobile are enabling users to pay for purchases online conveniently and reliably, without third-party applications or entering unnecessary data.

“A phone contains all the tools for 100% guaranteed user identification: fingerprint, voice recognition, and facial recognition using the camera,” Shabangu said.

Startup Mzansi Foundation has big dreams for its digital bank as it aims “to build the ultimate financial infrastructure for entrepreneurs’”

“[It] will not only simplify and reduce the costs of finance management for the entrepreneurs, but will also become a vital part of all aspects of their daily life, while at the same time providing them maximum control over their data,” Shabangu said.

Startup Bank will integrate a remote identification service and personal data storage that incorporates blockchain technology.

A multi-sided platform, Startup Bank is designed to provide banking and other financial services to entrepreneus and small businessess. Customer data will be encrypted and stored security on the blockchain where the permissions for who can access or use that will be entirely controlled directly by the customer.

It aims to provide “universal banking services for all” by using biometrics to facilitate client on-boarding and transaction authentication, Big Data analytics to optimize the quality of match-making and control risk, as well as AI-based customer self-service.

“I believe Startup Bank’s plan to bring banking services to entrepreneurs, through the blockchain and the latest mobile technology, will both provide new features not seen in the high street banks and include many who have been excluded from the traditional financial system,” said Sandile Shabangu, CEO of Startup Bank.

The platform will allow users to “leverage their social connectivity and their money in new ways” with more control and greater transparency. It will connect users to each other, allowing peer-to-peer transactions over the network. Beneficiaries and senders will be connected directly, without resorting to unnecessary middlemen or middle-layers of technologies.

Startup Bank will be accessible through a mobile app. Users who download the app will need to provide a selfie and a voice prints to get a SA-based account upon activation.

Startup Bank’s Digital Startup Pass will serve as an “automation and digitalization ecosystem” enabling individuals and companies to access all sorts of services, from financial to industrial, using a unique Pass.