Swiffy

CHRISTIAN DI ZIO | NEIL SCHWARTZMAN | JADIE NAICKER

Game Changers caught up with the founders of Swiffy - Christian Di Zio, Jadie Naicker and Neil Schwartzman - a payment services provider based in South Africa.

Q Guys, tell us about yourselves and your backgrounds?

If you didn’t know that we were the 3 founders of Swiffy, you’d never put us in the same room together! Our backgrounds and careers are so diverse covering several industries and geographies, yet they ironically complement each other amazingly.

C.Z.: Most of my career was spent in the medical and financial services industries (ranging from pharmaceuticals all the way to X-ray machines) in business development and sales management roles.

J.N.: Innovation in the financial services sector was my bread and butter, spanning the likes of KPMG, FirstRand Group (First National and Rand Merchant banks) and Alex Forbes.

N.S.: From navigating tech startups across the whole of Africa, to leading a multi-national (Naspers) I gained experience across a multitude of industries from music to financial services.

Q Why and how did Swiffy start?

J.N.: Swiffy was born out of the need to provide innovative payment processing solutions at a low cost to merchants whilst ensuring the highest level of service standards. From starting in a home garage (complete with plastic chairs and tables), we have built a global brand that is synonymous with TRUST in the payments processing arena. For the past few years, we have grown Swiffy into a registered Third party payment processor (TPPP), a member of the Payments Association of South Africa (PASA) and are PCI DSS compliant giving our customers, partners and staff the assurance of the highest level of integrity.

Q Are your clients only local or are you do you have an international portfolio?

N.S.: Having our roots set in Africa, Swiffy prides itself on strong payment processing capabilities across specific geographies in Africa. We have, however, also applied our skills internationally and are able to offer our services to licensed merchants who are looking to enter global markets where we have a presence or work via trusted PSP partners.

Q South Africa is a boom market, why do you think it has exploded?

C.Z.: One of the main reasons for this is the strong and regulated financial sector paired with local demand from our investors. Another factor that has driven this explosion is that many South Africans now have the ability to diversify their portfolios to include attractive foreign investments and trades, especially with the influx of highly reputable FX and CFD brokerages – most of which we work with.

According to estimates by Forexbrokers.co.za, there could be around 190,000 traders in South Africa alone. South Africa’s Forex trading volume including CFDs and spot total around $2.21 billion per day with a total daily foreign exchange volume of $20.37 billion for all FX instruments.

Q What tips would you give brands in succeeding in South Africa and Africa in general?

N.S.: One of the key lessons we have learnt in working with international merchants over the past few years is that localization is key. Partnering with a PSP that has a strong local understanding of the landscape, has the know-how on how to deal with customers’ vernacular in the region, and the ability to forge strong relationships with local banks is key. Critical to success is partnering with a PSP that is credible, well respected in the industry and has the necessary memberships and authority approvals to provide PSP services, such as Swiffy.

Q How does having a local payment brand help someone trying to penetrate the market?

J.N.: The Swiffy brand is synonymous with Trust and outstanding customer service. Our experience, deep knowledge and relationships across Africa make us the ideal payments services provider to work with to penetrate the market.

Q Can your brand be used for processing payments from outside of Africa like a regular PSP?

N.S.: The short answer is yes. Swiffy can process international cards and offer international processing through an extensive network of long-standing trusted partners and direct integrations.

Q From our experiences PSP’s can promise big and struggle to deliver. How are you different?

C.Z.: Integrity! We’ve been in this industry long enough to not promise what we cannot deliver on. Too many PSP’s will tell you that they can process “all over the world” – and when your platform goes live then suddenly there a myriad of reasons as to why things are falling apart. We’ve always operated by playing to our strengths and are always upfront and clear on what we can and can’t do. Bottom line for us, if we can’t deliver, we won’t offer it.

Q How hard is it to onboard and how long?

Our onboarding process is super streamlined and efficient. Once we’ve received the Merchant’s KYC pack, we can have it vetted and merchant account credentials ready within 48 hours. Once the merchant has integrated (directly or via cashier) and tested, GO LIVE takes a matter of minutes.

Q Is there a specific type of client that you onboard?

Not really. As long as the Merchant is licensed, we can work them.

Q What’s the best way to reach you and will you be attending the iFX Expo in Limassol?

We’ll definitely be at iFX in Limassol and are really excited for the event! We can be reached via email at hello@swiffy.co.za; or Skype: live:christian.dizio. We’ll get back to you right away… again, it speaks to our extreme focus on customer service.