In 2021 when Ignace Turatsinze was still at the university, the idea to develop a device to help people know when cooking gas was running out, and possibly be able to get gas on credit, was inspired by his own troubles. But for a small business, the biggest challenge was that they didn’t have the resources to start. And so Turatsinze and his friend, Brenda Munezero, looked for options. “We came up with PayingTone, and the idea was if I don’t have something that I need at home, and I don’t have money, is there a service that can help me get it on credit?” Turatsinze and Munezero were mindful that credit facilities in Africa are not accessible to everyone due to the limitation of finances of different individuals. He says that when they talked to different financial service providers, they were thrilled and encouraged them to develop their solutions. “We created a network of retailers; small neighbourhood boutiques, gas shops, supermarkets, grocery stores, pharmacies, transport companies, among others who sell basic products and services that are very instrumental to our daily routine,” he said, adding that they kicked off the development process in May 2021 and launched PayingTone in June this year. “PayingTone’s mission is to give people access to alternative financing mechanisms that help them sustain their basic life,” he asserted, adding that it is available as a mobile app on both Google Play Store and App Store and its USSD is under development. Regarding how it works, Turatsinze says that when a user registers, the app conducts credit analysis, looking at background information, and what one does, and asking them to upload different documents to help the system determine how much credit to offer. “For now, we provide up to Rwf200,000 but we can only provide the credit that equals to a third of the user’s income. Once you have this credit on PayingTone wallet, we have a network of merchants that we work with and they all have merchant codes. You go to a merchant and spend that credit. We charge five per cent as interest,” he says. Turatsinze adds that the price of their services is less expensive than that of locally available credit platforms, saying that it helps individuals to be more responsible with their finances by spending on what they need. On top of that, the financial history of the client is well-established, something that will give them access to more credit in the future. Recognitions and future plans On December 10, PayingTone won the second prize worth $20,000 in HangaPitch Fest’s second edition. Turatsinze says that besides the prize, they got to interact with key stakeholders that are crucial in their development as a start-up, and underwent a boot camp that helped them refine their value proposition and understand the market better. He adds that the monetary prize will help them to scale to one or two cities in Rwanda, and not just Kigali. PayingTone has also been part of the Fintech Incubation programme by CC Hub as well as the 250 Start-ups incubation where they secured a grant of $5000. They have also been selected to be part of four African start-ups that represented East Africa in Germany in November. So far, according to Turatsinze, the platform is servicing more than 1070 recurring customers which he says is 10 per cent of their demand. They also have 61 active merchants among 3500 who want their services. Turatsinze says they seek as many people as they can, adding that PayingTone as a start-up has a team of 11 people. In 2023, they want to cover all secondary cities in Rwanda and evaluate neighbouring countries that have economic landscapes similar to Rwanda, like Lusaka, Zambia.
