A new low-cost service and card payment device for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) enable them to get these wireless devices within 24-hours, with access to funds from transactions the following day, says card and electronic payment company Telesure Financial Services head Anton de Souza.

SMEs can request an electronic quote on the Dashpay customer web portal or through a call centre. The device will be delivered the next day and can immediately be used for card transactions.

The SMEs pay a monthly fee for the service, which includes communications costs, and they do not need to establish a business relationship with any specific bank.

“This new card payment offering is focused on the low-cost delivery and affordability of these services to SMEs in a self-service environment and is competitive with the bank offerings. The device is ready to use out of the box and only requires charging, which should drive uptake and help increase sustainability of the SMEs,” says Dashpay GM Craig Rankin.

SMEs can, thus, maintain a smaller daily cash float, which reduces the risk of robbery and, potentially, insurance costs, while increasing secure revenue by accepting card payments, which they could not accept before.

The Dashpay card payment devices are manufactured by electronics company Ingenico and use global system for mobile communications telephony to communicate. Telesure uses a coverage map to determine which of the cellular service providers provide the best coverage in the area in which each SME operates and the communications charges are included in the monthly subscription fee.

Telesure is certified by both Visa and MasterCard International to facilitate SME’s card payments by customers. Visa and MasterCard changed their rules in 2010 to enable a more cashless environment that reduces the security risks and costs associated with cash, as well as to expand their presence in the cash- dominated lower-end of the market, says De Souza.

Telesure is focusing on providing the offering to underserviced, but well-established, SMEs in city suburbs and towns as its starting point, but will broaden its marketing if uptake is satisfactory, he adds.

“One of our clients is an innovative hardware store in Soweto, Gauteng, that operates out of a shipping container. Customers order their wares on their morning commute to work and pick up the goods on the way home or have the store deliver it. These are the types of innovative SMEs we aim to support,” says Dashpay GM Anthony West.

Dashpay is underpinned by Telesure’s financial services and insurance expertise and the company considers offering further financial services to SMEs in the future, but will first build its SME client base and then gauge interest, concludes De Souza.