From cash to digital: How better payment options are helping a Hammanskraal business grow
For small businesses in township communities, digital payments do more than reduce the costs of doing business and improve record-keeping. They also open access to other wider financial services, make transactions more convenient and, importantly, open the door to customers beyond the immediate community.
This is one of the opportunities being explored through FinMark Trust’s Community Digitalisation work in Hammanskraal, undertaken as part of the Inclusive Payments Digitalisation Programme (IPDP), in partnership with the World Bank. The work looks at how digital financial services can respond to the realities of communities where cash remains an important part of everyday economic life, while creating pathways for businesses and consumers to benefit from digital alternatives.
For Vuyiswa Mzizi, 56, of Unit 7, Temba, that transition is already making a practical difference. As the owner of Aunty Vee’s Table Charm, Vuyiswa sells kitchenware and utensils from Table Charm, Tupperware and other brands. She started the business in 2017 after a fellow church member recruited her.
At first, her customers preferred cash, so she did business that way. But accepting cash also meant spending time and money managing it, and worrying about the risk of moving around with it.
From cash deposits to digital payments
Vuyiswa remembers the inconvenience of travelling by taxi to the bank to make deposits. When several customers placed orders in the same week, she could find herself making multiple trips, paying for transport and spending time waiting in queues. She also worried about carrying cash on her trips.
Her turning point came unexpectedly when she visited a school in her neighbourhood. One of the teachers wanted to buy a set of pots but didn’t have any cash on her. She asked Vuyiswa whether she had a bank account so that she could transfer the money.
“That made me realise that I can save time and money if everyone paid me digitally,” says Vuyiswa.
She then started accepting digital payments more regularly. Not every customer chooses to pay digitally, but those who do have changed the way she manages her business. Instead of physically taking cash to the bank, payments go directly into her account.
For Vuyiswa, the value shows up in fewer trips to the bank, less time spent handling cash, and an easier way to track transactions.
Making the numbers work
Like many small-business owners, Vuyiswa initially worried about the cost of digital payments. Transaction fees could potentially reduce her margins, while network problems could interrupt a sale.
To understand the fee structure more clearly, she visited her bank branch. She compared the costs of receiving payments through EFT and PayShap with the fees from depositing cash. She found that digital payments made better economic sense for her business and gave her better control over her finances
This was a useful calculation. For a small business, the cost of a payment is not limited to a transaction fee. Cash also has a cost, including transport to the bank, time spent in queues, and the administrative burden of managing and recording cash sales. Relying on cash also limits a small business’s access to a digital transaction history, which can restrict access to a wider suite of financial products and services that can help a small business grow.
Vuyiswa’s experience highlights why digitalisation must be considered from the small business owner’s perspective. The technology needs to solve a real problem and deliver a clear benefit.
Beyond convenience
The benefits extend beyond reducing trips to the bank. Vuyiswa’s banking app automatically records transactions, reducing paperwork and giving her a clearer view of her sales. Her goal is to have “less cash to count, cleaner books and less stress”.
Digital payments have also expanded her business’s potential reach. Customers who live further away can place an order, pay digitally and receive their purchases by courier. A payment option that initially helped Vuyiswa avoid a trip to the bank has become part of a broader way of doing business. This lets her serve more customers, even outside Hammanskraal.
She is also considering accepting additional digital payment methods, including QR codes, so customers have more ways to pay.
However, there are still challenges. Network connectivity is an underlying concern, especially during power outages. Additionally, not every customer prefers digital payments, which is why the experiences of businesses like Vuyiswa’s are important.
Digitalisation that works for communities
The lesson from Hammanskraal is that giving businesses and consumers more practical choices can strengthen the local economy.
The Community Digitalisation work seeks to understand these choices in their real-world context – including the barriers that prevent people from using digital payments and the conditions that can make them useful, affordable and trusted.
Vuyiswa’s experience shows what can happen when a digital payment option addresses a genuine business need. What began with one customer who did not have cash has evolved into a payment approach that saves time, simplifies administration and allows her to reach customers further away.
Her message to other entrepreneurs:
“Digital is just another way for customers to give you money. And more ways means more money.”
For township businesses, that choice can be significant. Digital payments are one part of building a more efficient, connected and inclusive local economy – one where small businesses can spend less time managing cash and more time growing.