By Henry Uche
As businesses constantly look for ways and means to grow and expand, Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc has launched a Fintech platform – Zest Payments Ltd (Zest Universe 1.0), a solution-driven platform, positioned to serve consumers, businesses, application developers, and other financial service providers.
At the recent launch in Lagos, its Chief Executive, Demola Sogunle, stated that since the company had decided to move the frontier of its value propositions to another level in a very significant manner, the management opted to play a very active role in the area of digital payments and technology.
“Zest, as our fintech subsidiary, is at the epicentre of everything that we are trying to do going forward. Zest is focused on delivering a true platform orchestration strategy that would enable multiple payment options in the hands of the customer, help businesses collect payments seamlessly, and power embedded finance, especially in areas of e-Commerce, Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL), working capital solutions, and value-added services”, he said.
Sogunle added that with Zest, the company was poised to unlock a new network of partnerships, delivering better experiences in the area of payments and customized solutions delivery.
Also, the Stanbic IBTC Chairman, Mr. Basil Omiyi, said the company collectively aligned on the role of fintechs as platform enablers to deliver on the next wave of growth, especially in the area of financial services, saying “What was once a vision has now come to fruition”
Commenting, the Chief Executive of Zest Payments, Stanley Jacob, explained that the platform was hinged on four major design principles: multi-rail platform strategy; human-centred design; business growth powered by e-commerce, and operational excellence.
His words: “On the multi-rail platform strategy, we believe businesses should be able to collect payment in any form the customer wants to pay. We ensure that we enable consumers and businesses to be able to meet on card rails, on account-based payments, quick response (QR) codes, USSD, and other forms of payments; both contact and contactless.
“We have embedded all these into one platform and built very unique APIs that can be used as a separate module or taken as a single integration kit. On human-centered design, we have built a seamless experience for businesses at every stage of their engagement. From the point of onboarding, we ensure that within three minutes, you are onboarded on our platforms.
“To enable you to transact seamlessly, we have developed multiple options and enhanced features and manage their inventory. We provided a robust dashboard to enable businesses to make key decisions leveraging insights and data that we collate and represent to them on the platform”
“On business growth powered by e-commerce, Jacob stressed that businesses would be able to sell online- with or without a website, especially for micro, small or medium enterprises.
“At Zest, we have built a robust e-commerce marketplace and storefront where businesses can showcase their products and services for free. On these platforms, they can display their products, share this to their social media handle and process payments end-to-end digitally.”
The Vice President (Products and Engineering), Ifeoluwa Adekunle-Yusuf, who affirmed that Zest was delivered out of innovation and change, averred that it remained committed to its mandate.
“Zest Universe is endowed with multiple payment rails, all-in-one gateway, cards, USSD, QR codes, and account-based payments – over 40 country currencies can be enabled,” he said.