Across South Africa, women entrepreneurs are finding new ways to strengthen their businesses through digital tools. Bathabile Hilda Zwane, owner of Happy Bite Home Trading in Thembisa, is one of them

Since opening Happy Bite Home Trading in 2013, Bathabile has built a loyal customer base by selling affordable kotas, snacks and fast food. Like many township businesses, however, she relied almost entirely on cash.

Managing cash every day meant balancing sales manually, finding enough change for customers and carrying the risks of keeping cash on the premises. Some customers even walked away without making a purchase simply because they weren't carrying cash.

That all changed after Bathabile participated in the Digital Ke Power Financial and Digital Literacy training. The programme introduced her to digital payments and gave her the confidence to start accepting electronic payments through a point-of-sale (POS) device.

Today, customers can choose how they pay, making transactions quicker and more convenient. Digital payments have simplified the way Bathabile manages her business, making it easier to track sales while reducing the amount of cash she keeps on site.

The technology has also opened new opportunities. Using the same POS device, Bathabile now sells electricity, airtime, DSTV vouchers and other value-added services, creating an additional income stream while providing greater convenience to her customers and community.

Like many small business owners, she was initially concerned about transaction fees, network reliability and fraud. But as she became more familiar with the technology, those concerns gave way to confidence.

For Bathabile, digitalisation has helped her run a more efficient business, diversify her income and serve her customers more effectively.

She believes more women entrepreneurs can benefit from taking the same step.

"I encourage other business owners to embrace digital payments. They make running a business easier, improve security, save time and give customers more convenient payment options. Training programmes like Digital Ke Power provide practical knowledge that can help businesses grow and create new income opportunities."

Bathabile's journey shows that digital inclusion has no age limit. At 64, she is one of our more senior participants, and her story forms part of the Community Digitalisation Project, implemented in collaboration with the World Bank under the Inclusive Payments Digitalisation Programme (IPDP). The project aims to make digital payments more accessible, safer and more inclusive, helping to build a functional digital economy in township communities.

Through the project, women entrepreneurs like Bathabile are building more resilient businesses, expanding their income opportunities and demonstrating how digital inclusion can unlock meaningful economic opportunities for women, their families and their communities.