A financial tool that grows with merchants, at any stage of their business
Cape Town, 14 October 2021 – Payments and software company Yoco has introduced its smartest card machine yet, the Yoco Khumo (means wealth, riches or abundance in Tswana), Yoco’s latest innovation for merchants to help fuel their business growth. This sleek and compact smart card machine is completely standalone and offers the fastest connectivity speed ever on a Yoco card machine as it connects to the widely accessible 4G network speeds, with unlimited data.
This is the most affordable, smart card machine in South Africa, launching at R799 and capable of processing Tap, Chip & Pin, Swipe, and digital mobile payments in under 3 seconds. Yoco has also created a new version of the Yoco App, so that everything can be done within the same card machine – from payments to viewing transactions, with safety and security in mind from beginning to end.
Over the last year, Yoco Khumo has been tested with small business owners from nearly every industry, in almost every setting; with entrepreneurs who are only starting their transition away from cash, to those who are familiar with card payments.
Lungisa Matshoba, Yoco’s Chief Technology Officer explains: “When our products go out into the world, we follow them with a keen eye and ear. We watch how merchants use them. How they fit them into their business models. And as we learn from merchants, we adapt, and this is why we are so excited about Khumo, as it was built with and for merchants.”
With two built-in SIM cards, a reliable connection is guaranteed, no matter where merchants are in South Africa. The card machine also allows merchants to connect to a Wi-Fi network if that works better for their business. In addition, the power-efficient machine will be able to provide merchants with enough battery life for a full business days’ worth of transactions.
Once a card machine is purchased, entrepreneurs can start to securely accept card payments while having online financial tools at their fingertips, all within a few minutes. Yoco believes in the principle of responsible innovation and has made it as easy as possible for small businesses to sign-up, and strives to adhere to the strictest standards when it comes to safety and security, whether verifying merchant sign-ups or customer payments.
Merchants utilising POS (point of sale) systems should take note that the Yoco Khumo currently does not offer any POS integration. The feature set of the Android-powered card machine will, however, be expanded over its lifetime, so be on the lookout for new feature announcements in future.
