Serve-all-payments is the new Honour-all-cards.
Hi, we're 4 wanna-be-big-entrepreneurs and students @ the University of Cape Town. Our academic backgrounds spread across business, technology, and engineering.
And we won.
Unfortunately we need a hook to get you this far but since you're still here ->
- We are happy to share that we placed 1st at the Interledger Foundation x UCT Financial Innovation Hub Bootcamp & Hackathon for 2025.
Want to see how? Here's our pitch:
Most Importantly
We’re not done.
We’re discussing how to build an MVP, test real-world feasibility, and refine the business model. We’re also looking into funding and exploring how to scale responsibly.
With most of us still studying, timelines are tight — but we’re keeping the momentum going.
Meet the Team
Tino Chaminuka - Honours in Information Systems | Computer Science background.
Dylan Tasdhary – Master's in FinTech | Computer Science and Information Systems background.
Darryl Nyamayaro – Master's in FinTech | Mechanical and Industrial Engineering background.
Kabelo Mbayi – Honours in Computer Science | Computer Science and Information Systems background.
Different paths, same mindset: curious, ambitious, and focused on impact.
Bootcamp Takeaways
The bootcamp gave us the context we needed to approach financial systems critically. We explored how money evolved, how banking works behind the scenes, and how these systems often exclude people.
- We saw how much of the population still operates outside the formal financial system — not by choice, but because the system isn’t working for them.
- It also reminded us how powerful teamwork is. Everyone brought something different, and that made all the difference.
Hackathon Energy
Some of us were new to hackathons, others had a few under the belt — but the energy was the same.
- There’s something exciting about solving real problems under pressure. What made this one special was the bootcamp beforehand, which helped us focus on designing something thoughtful, not just functional.
- The final stretch, where everything starts coming together — that’s where we really locked in as a team.
The Problem?
South Africa’s township economy moves over USD 130 billion a year — mostly in cash.
Why?
Consumers carry cash because that’s what’s accepted <-> Merchants only accept cash because that’s what people use.
Sure, digital tools exist, but they’re not accessible. High bank fees make small transactions impractical when they are 20-45% of the purchase value.
The result?
No transaction history, no credit, no growth = systematically excluded from formal finance.
Interledger helped us break this cycle by enabling low-cost, high-frequency digital payments — helping people participate in the digital economy on fair terms.
Our Solution
Using Open Payments, we built a way for:
Merchants to serve more customers by expanding their payment channels with NFC, QR codes, or even WhatsApp aliases all through turning their smartphones into a POS terminal.
Consumers to safely transact and save more money from carrying cash by loading funds from their bank into a digital wallet to pay merchants instantly.
Peer-to-peer microlending is unlocked and creates a way to achieving a formalised credit history and record of informal agreements.
It’s designed to be lightweight, low-cost, and frictionless.
Tech we used:
- React Native for the app
- Twilio for WhatsApp integration
- Interledger.js SDK for handling payments
The goal was to create a solution that fits into people’s existing behavior — not to reinvent the wheel, but to give people a better one.
Pitching
Pressure is for tyres - a football quote.
Jokes aside, pitching was intense.
Condensing everything into three minutes — the problem, our solution, a demo — wasn’t easy. But once we got on stage, the nerves faded and the excitement took over.
We were proud of what we’d built and grateful for the opportunity to share it. Having met the judges beforehand helped too — their encouragement formed part of the supportive energy in the room. Every team wanted to win, sure — but more than that, everyone wanted to see each other succeed.
Mentorship
The ILF mentors made a big difference. Whether it was pushing our thinking or helping us stay focused, they were there when it counted.
Special thanks to Sid, Max, and Raul — their feedback helped shape both our product and our pitch.
Biggest insight? Tell the story. Make people feel the problem you’re solving.
And to close...
Thank you to the Interledger Foundation and the UCT Financial Innovation Hub for sharing your impact-aligned values through this amazing opportunity!
Congratulations to all the teams, and a special shoutout to everyone (especially those behind-the-scenes) that brought it all together!
Yours truly,
Direla
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