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Alternative Currency: Yo Time Proposes Airtime Instead of Change

  • In a national context heavily impacted by difficulties in getting small change supplies, the Zimbabwean start-up Yo Time proposes a solution relying on the value of airtime.
  • Yo Time proposes an online change platform enabling retailers to redeem their customers with mobile airtime rather than cash when they cannot make the total round up.
  • Since the abandonment of the Zimbabwean dollar in 2009, several currencies are in use in the country, including US dollars and small coins (under one dollar) often fall short. When purchases do not add up to one dollar, customers generally have to round up the amount, buy extra goods or accept a credit note.
  • Using Yo Time, merchants can send mobile airtime to their customers’ phone for amounts ranging from 10 cents to 50 US dollars. Transactions are validated within a few seconds and the customer receives a confirmation message.
Source: SpringWise
  • The number of mobile phone owners keeps increasing in Africa, catering for various opportunities in mobile-based payment and exchange solutions (616 million mobile subscribers on the continent end 2011 according to Informa Telecoms & Media).
  • Several retail chains have already opted for Yo Time as it provides them with an added value means to assert the loyalty of their customers.
  • Debit and credit solutions at checkout remain scarce (cash withdrawals or transfers to a bank account after payment); yet, these services may be of interest for retailers.
  • Yo Time also confirms the universally of payment transactions and the part to be played by alternative means of payments, including airtime, in validating exchanges.