South Africa’s Entersekt Is Innovating to Enable Cashless Economies

The world is quickly becoming cashless, with the latest Worldpay Global Payment Report revealing that the use of mobile payments is set to increase to 28% in 2022 and surpass both credit cards and cash. This will be driven by the improved availability, reliability and security of mobile platforms. 

To help make cashless payments even easier and safer, South African-headquartered company Entersekt is helping to streamline making payments on the go by bringing this functionality into consumers’ banking apps. Entersekt CEO, and Endeavor Entrepreneur, Schalk Nolte says, “Now, consumers don’t need to download a whole bunch of apps, each with its own limitations and user experiences. Their risk for cybercrime is also reduced as they are no longer spreading their personal data across various platforms. By building this capability into banking apps – the safest way to bank in South Africa, according to the South African Banking Risk Information Centre’s digital banking crime statistics – you can rest assured that your data and money are secure.”

Entersekt is a B2B2C FinTech company, working with banks and other financial services providers to meet consumer needs, be they long-established concerns or emerging preferences. Nolte explains, “We want to make it easier for banks to compete on the digital front by expanding the capabilities offered in their apps in order to enrich the customer experience.” This latest enhancement has already been implemented by the likes of South African chains Nedbank and Capitec Bank, with Chris Wood, Card Issuing and Payments Executive at Nedbank, saying, “Our journey with Entersekt has always been one of exploration and I am delighted to see this next mobile payments installment go live after it started with a few telephone calls and some big ideas.”

“All digital innovations, like our mobile payments option, have been built on our foundational layer of fully compliant, state-of-the-art security,” shares Nolte.

He, together with his brother Dewald, who is also an Endeavor Entrepreneur, and three fellow engineering graduates from the University of Stellenbosch, founded Entersekt with the aim of filling a gap in the online banking security market. This was after a family member of one of the founders became a victim of phishing. After brainstorming and devising a unique technology platform, patents were filed, and funding was obtained to enable Entersekt to become the first company in the world to roll out a fully interactive online transaction authentication system for financial institutions. 

In 2017, after achieving 80% market penetration in South Africa and watching as international firms began claiming similar capabilities to the ones Entersekt pioneered, Schalk and Dewald stepped up efforts to scale fast and sign on key partnerships in new markets to broaden its scope, both technically and operationally. During this time, the brothers were identified as high-impact entrepreneurs by Endeavor, which was established to support and invest in entrepreneurs who are in the scale-up phase of their company’s growth. 

Not only did Endeavor give Entersekt tailored introductions to decision makers in new markets, but through Endeavor Catalyst – an Endeavor global investment fund – Entersekt managed to raise expansion capital too. Through Endeavor, Entersekt had the opportunity to meet with and learn from leading entrepreneurs from around the world, including Patrick Collison, Founder and CEO of Stripe; Sergio Furio, Founder and CEO of Creditas; and Guillaume Pousaz, Founder and CEO of Checkout.com.

Today, Entersekt has a presence in 45 countries worldwide and is seeking to expand beyond the regions it currently serves from offices in Atlanta, Johannesburg, London, Munich, Stellenbosch, Toronto, and Utrecht in the Netherlands.

Endeavor Managing Director, Alison Collier, says, “We are thrilled by Entersekt’s accelerated growth over the past decade, now employing over 170 people, 88% of whom are in South Africa, and generating revenue growth in excess of 40% annually – a great achievement given tough market conditions. It’s also wonderful to see how Entersekt’s innovations are driving shifts like cashless payments, not only in South Africa, but around the world. We expect even more revolutionary innovation from this fintech pioneer going forward.”

Article originally published here.