10 Useful payment tools for small businesses and how they work

When Paystack, the recurring payment company was launched in April, it was all every industry observer could talk about.

But indeed, many months before Paystack, many local startups had thrown their hats into the world’s FinTech scene.

These companies have allowed Nigerian businesses receive one-time payments, programme recurring billing, send money smoothly across different currencies and manage their accounting.

There are now so many options available for startups to receive, send and track payments. With so many options to choose from, it could become hard to find one that fits your needs perfectly. In this article, we’ll list the top payment tools available in Nigeria, and how they work.

1. Paystack

Of course, we’ll start with Paystack. Paystack was the belle of the local FinTech ball when it launched back in April, 2016. It’s still the belle of the ball now. All the love it’s getting from local founders does not only come from YC’s validation (Paystack was incubated at YC), but also because the platform works.

“Bye Interswitch, We integrating this ASAP!” says one founder when he discovered Paystack. There’s been a lot of versions essentially saying the same thing. People love Paystack.

Paystack allows you programme recurring payment for your business in mere minutes. And on the customer end, it’s even easier to pay bills. All the user needs to do is follow a link.

The Paystack reporting tools keep you updated on how money is entering and leaving your books. Other industry darlings such as hotels.ng and Printivo already use Paystack.

2. Flutterwave

Flutterwave is basically Paystack on steroids. It helps businesses programme recurring payments and helps users pay easily. But there is more to Flutterwave’s magic. The company also provides infrastructure for existing financial institutions to scale transfers across countries and currencies.

Flutterwave is available in more than 36 African countries and big corporate organizations such as Etisalat, MTN, Kenya’s KCB bank, and Access Bank use the platform.

3.  Freshbooks

Away from payment gateways, onto tools that help you track and report your earnings and spendings. Freshbooks is a top pick in choosing what tool you track your finances with. It’s not a full-scale accounting software, though.

It is essentially an invoicing software, allowing you to track your expenses with in-depth analysis and reports. Because it’s made for one purpose, it means it’s dummy-easy to use.

4. Wave

Wave does all Freshbook does, and more. Its features include automatic billing and invoicing, recurring bills and invoices, and reminders to track paid and unpaid items. Of course, it comes with the reporting feature that lets you create accurate financial reports easily.

The best part? Wave is totally free.

5. Invoice Generator

Invoice Generator is probably not useful if you are already using wave. But, if you are a freelancer sending out only a couple of invoices per month, this simple tool helps you generate invoices for your different gigs using highly-customisable templates. After creating your invoice, you can download as PDF or send it via email to your payer. No signup required and the tool is free.

6. Amplify

“Amplify is the smartest way to accept and manage recurring payments in Nigeria,” says the company website. And that’s not just PR speak. Amplify does what it says. The platform works like

The platform works like Paystack complete with the finance tracking and reporting features. But it’s also branching into other ancillary CRM services such as word-of-mouth marketing for small business, reviews and reputation management and a loyalty module.

7. Paga

Remember when we said, there were many local payment processing systems before Paystack came on the scene? We were talking about Paga.

Paga is one of the pioneer payment processing gateways in Nigeria. Paga started as a mobile money platform, but it had since taken on a merchant side that helps businesses accept payment. They work with more than 5,000 businesses in Nigeria.

8. BuxMe

If Paga is spotting the wisdom hair of an old age pensioner, BuxMe is growing its first curl of baby hair. But the tool has a lot going for it, already. Although it’s positioned as a consumer tool, it could be a useful tool for a small business. It’s easy to send and request money from anyone, using either their phone number, or email.

For small businesses, it’s a great way to receive money from clients.

9. SimplePay

Simplepay is a secure payment platform like Amplify and Paystack. They offer one-time payments, recurring billings and something more; escrow service. Pricing is reasonable at 1.9% + N10 (2 cents) for every transaction.

10. Lidya

Lidya isn’t necessarily a payment tool, but an interesting FinTech company nonetheless.

Lidya is a branchless digital bank offering small and medium-sized businesses unsecured loans of between $500 and $15,000.

The platform uses a slew of algorithms and machine learning to determine the credit-worthiness of loan applicants.

Like we said, it’s not a payment tool, but it’s a useful platform for your business.

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Feature image via Etihad Airways

Source: Starta