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Radhika Adukia: NCash is a youth-centric digital wallet

Radhika Adukia: NCash is a youth-centric digital wallet
NCash is a new digital wallet developed by Sulav Pay Pvt. Ltd, a digital payment startup. Though the company has not officially launched the wallet, it has already started operations a couple of months ago. ApEx talked to Radhika Adukia, Chief Marketing Officer of Sulav Pay, to know more about NCash and the company. Excerpts: What is a NCash wallet? NCash is a digital wallet platform similar to other digital wallets. We want to make the digital payment experience easy, convenient, and the preferred payment method. It is hassle-free as you don’t have to look around to check if you have changed money or if at times you forget to take the cash you will still be able to make payments through the phone, so in a way it gives individuals freedom.

We’re not trying to be the most used wallet, or the wallet you buy events from, or fit into a certain category. We want to be something of a ‘financial Swiss army knife’ for the everyday person. Through our app, users can not only spend but also earn money.

We’re trying to build a ‘brand with a personality’ which is something brands in Nepal lack. For example, when you think of Apple you think of a cool and hip person. We try to personify NCash, to make it more relatable to everyone. We know finance is boring. We know digital wallets are boring. Our aim is to make NCash more fun, be it with our ads, our presence, or our product. How is NCash different from other digital wallet platforms? There are several digital wallets in Nepal; many of the apps have existed for a couple of years, and many are emerging. We aim to be different by providing a user-friendly interface, fast and secure transactions, offline payments, offers, and an opportunity to earn back the money users have spent. Further, our app is supported by three major QR services in Nepal, namely Fonepay, NepalPay, and Smart QR. It means you can make payments anywhere even if the server of one QR is down payments can still be made through others. We have many other unique features coming soon to our app which differentiates us from the other wallets. We’re in the business of providing a better user experience through our technology. Whether that be for the user or businesses, and that’s what we will capitalize off of. What is your company’s goal? Our goal is to empower the new generation by making transactions and payments easy. I have seen many companies around the world that have used the phrase “empowering the new generation” without doing anything that actually empowers us. But with NCash that is not the case. One of our features is called minor KYC which means users who are not 18 yet are able to open an NCash account that is linked to the accounts of their parents. So, the parents can load their pocket money on the app and their children can use it. But here’s the catch, so naturally parents want to know where their child is spending the money, so we provide parents with a summary of the different sectors their child has spent money on, for example, Rs 300 on food and beverages, Rs 200 on entertainment, 100 on transportation. Now to empower the youths, we do not provide parents with a detailed transaction history which is on what items their child spent money on, for example, maybe they bought flowers or gifts for their girlfriend or boyfriend. We will put that under a certain category that the parents can see but they will not know about the items their children have spent money on. Many of our ideas for the wallet have come from things we have experienced or seen our friends in universities go through. As students, we are constantly looking for ways to save, earn and be financially dependent so our features are based on how we can help the youths reach that point. The main goal is to be able to provide the new generation with the financial liberty, knowledge, and independence that as youths we look for. Likewise, we are working with standup comic artists of Nepal to provide them with a platform to showcase their skills. We have some amazing talents in Nepal, and I believe we should provide them with a platform in Nepal itself. My plan is to be able to collaborate with many different talents and give them an opportunity to show their skills. We want our youths to feel like they have good opportunities for self-growth and development in Nepal itself. There’s a growing trend of wanting to move abroad because of a lack of support or growth here and in NCash our goal is to provide the same support and growth in Nepal itself. How is Sulav Pay’s business currently?  It is a new startup, so we have not officially launched it yet. Even then we have around 200,000 users, which is a great achievement looking at how we have not launched yet nor have we done any major marketing. It is said that there is a lower profit margin in the mobile wallet business. What is the case with NCash?  It is true that there is less profit margin, especially for startups. But our business model is different from what you might expect. We don’t want to leech off of users and crazy transaction fees etc; we want to capitalize off of our technology. When our technology is up to the mark, any charges are justified too, but until they are, we can’t expect users to pay anything. We’re going towards a more subscription model, where both merchants will earn benefits and ease, and so will the users. And we don’t want to gatekeep our technology either. We will let every payment services provider (PSP) be able to use parts of our tech from the first day, for free. Do you see the prospect of mergers and acquisitions of digital wallet companies? There are around 28 digital wallets in Nepal currently. So with high competition, the survival rate is very low. I do see prospects of mergers and acquisitions as this can not only help to lower competition, but I believe wallets can benefit from it for instance, if one wallet lacks in technical aspects but has a great user interface, merging with another company with the strong technical team but the poor user interface will be beneficial as they can take advantage of the skills and develop one strong wallet. But our long-term goal is to take NCash to an IPO instead of being bought out by another company. How do you see the scope of the field of digital finance from a career development point of view? I think there’s a lot of opportunity in the field of digital finance as it is vast and rapidly evolving. In digital finance itself there are many career opportunities such as in fintech there are opportunities for crypto, lending platform, and mobile payments. There are prospects for data analytics so they can provide insights on how to improve the customer experience while managing risks, which brings me to cybersecurity and regulatory compliance related to digital finance. So, there are many career opportunities in digital finance itself. Alongside the opportunities in this field, I believe this is an amazing field for self-development as well. Because with advancements in technology, individuals are constantly learning and improving their skills which also allows for the diversification of skills such as programming, designing, data analysis, cybersecurity, and risk management. This diversification allows individuals to have career flexibility as well as the ability to adapt to this evolving industry. It allows you entrepreneur opportunities as well if you have an idea, you can code it and start your own venture. An example in this regard is the audio streaming and media services provider Spotify. Although it’s not related to digital finance, the way Spotify was developed and the journey to where it is right now is inspiring. So, I believe that digital finance is amazing for career and self-development.

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