Comments on: Wizzit.co.za – mobile banking for South Africa

By: deemakega

deemakega — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 12:56:35 +0000

i have lost my pin number i do i get the other one

By: davis senye

davis senye — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 09:24:00 +0000

hello i am davis senye i bought the starter pack friday the 06 march 2009 and you havent contacted me yet my cell no: 0744227307

By: Rapelang Moshapane

Rapelang Moshapane — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 18:30:04 +0000

The investment Wizzit is facilitating on black empowerment is the information I am trying to look for

By: Rapelang Moshapane

Rapelang Moshapane — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 18:25:28 +0000

I appreciate what Wizzit is doing. I am In Lesotho and a heard a little about the campaign of black empowerment. I got interested on the investement wizzit is facilitating. Please send me more informatoin about it. Thank you

By: Hans

Hans — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 13:22:09 +0000

Currently, Wizzit does not use Fundamo technology, but did run the first Wizzit prototype on Fundamo technology. The initial focus group run by Wizzit, funded by the Finmark Trust and on which the business case was built, was indeed run on Fundamo technology…

By: brian Richardson

brian Richardson — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 12:22:41 +0000

Anyone is free to contact me regarding WIZZIT to get the correct information as it would appear that a lot of people are making the incorrect assumptions and therefore miscommunicating the facts.
WIZZIT does not use Fundamo technology; WIZZIT did not copy Smart or Globe; WIZZIT does not use SMS; WIZZIT was the first to launch in South Africa and was followed by FNB and only a year later by MTN/Standard Bank. It would be very difficult to comment that MTN is much bigger than WIZZIT. AS of a couple of months ago this certainly was not the case

By: Alwyn

Alwyn — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 08:55:25 +0000

Yes, you need a banking license especially if you manage the money.

Many years ago I was involved in Fundamo. At that time it was basically a custom STK application on the phone. Maybe its Sanlam heritage impacted it as it didn’t really take off at the point in time and IMHO was not a very good design.

Then we implemented mobile banking for MTN and Vodacom using the OTA platform of Swedish firm Smarttrust. Due to its use of the Smarttrust browser it was very flexible and powerful solution. The drawback was that you had to work to the banks, which in general is a slow and error-prone if not political task to say the least. It was very secure though.

Then we implemented the system which I’m sure Wizzit is emulating if not copying, SMART Money from SMART Communications in the Philippines. SMART Money is based around a special sim card made by local South African company Prism. The sim itself is still years in front of its competition even though it is already 7 years old. It allows you a level of security and application freedom unmatched in the sim card environment. I have spent the last 4 years working for SMART Communication. Even though the environment in the country is mostly cash the system has a throughput of funds that cannot be matched in South-Africa.

I don’t know what technology wizzit is using on the phone. If they are targeting the unbanked population then it must be sms. If it is sms they better secure it, unless they get away with an unsecure solution like GCash from Globe, SMART’s competitor. Unsecure is fine for micro payments, we were doing a lot of that too, but not for banking. I hope its not WAP, and if it is J2ME, how many JSR177 compatible phones are there?

Anyway, have a look at http://www.smart.com.ph/SMART/Value+Added+Services/Smart+Money/ and see for yourself. I see it doesn’t list the full features of the product, but its all there and more and been around for years and years.

The operator itself is on its way to reaching the 1 billion sms’s per day, so its in a bit of a different league than the local operators, combined…

BTW. I don’t work there anymore, just wanted to point out how ‘unspecial’ this is. Wouldn’t have minded to start it myself though

By: Hans

Hans — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 12:12:47 +0000

You should check out Fundamo (www.fundamo.com) who provides the expertise and technology for companies like Wizzit. Also check out http://www.mtnbanking.co.za (much larger penetration than Wizzit and more functionality).

By: ewan

ewan — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 16:40:07 +0000

It looks wicked! Your text came in via the anonymous form David, I was respecting your privacy!

By: David McQueen

David McQueen — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 16:25:31 +0000

For the record I am D.
I am sure you know why this project interests me.
Happy New Year buddy!!