In the past few years, Moniepoint has dominated the Nigerian point of sales (POS) terminals business. In 2023 it processed over $182 billion. The rise of Moniepoint as a fierce competitor in this space will forever be in the books. But how did it do it? In a new interview by The Flip with Ezekiel Sanni, the senior vice president of Distribution Network Sales at the company offers some insight into its strategy. “I can tell you for free as it stands in Nigeria, Moniepoint is responsible for processing more than 50% of the total transactions that happen on POS terminals in the country,” Sanni said. See below five takeaways from its playbook according to Sanni: Hire Your Customer Before Ezekiel Sanni became SVP, Distribution Network Sales at Moniepoint, he was a POS operator. So he knew and understood the pain points of businesses who rely on POS for their daily sustenance. “I started with Moneipoint mid 2019 as an agent. The friend who introduced me spoke about Moniepoint going nationwide and I applied and became the state coordinator for Edo State,” Sanni said. Find the Problem Sanni knew the problems with POS in Nigeria and shared them with the company. “Prior to Moniepoint, we had issues with uptime. It has been like an industry-wide issue, especially for the agents. Their business involves quick turnaround. They have limited cash and they want to quickly turn it around so that they can make more profits. And we have this issue of their funds being trapped,” he said. Offer Instant Solutions Moniepoint currently offers instant settlement for transactions. “We have this issue of merchants and agents not getting their funds settled on time. What the conventional banks offer is ‘T Plus One,’ which is ‘Transaction Day Plus One.’ So if a merchant or a customer uses his or her card on a POS terminal, the merchant will not get settled until the next day. So Moniepoint came in with instant settlements. You are getting your money in real-time as you’re transacting,” he said. Offer the Best Cashback Rates: Sanni revealed that Moniepoint offers one of the best incentives in the market. “There is a certain amount that is set aside as cashback to agents. So apart from the fact that they make more profits with our pricing, they also have the rebates. And when they do more with our terminals they get more cashback. So they’ll want to go for it,” he said. Find Foot Soldiers You need to have a team on the ground, in the field, meeting your customers. At Moniepoint this is the Business Relationship Managers (BRM). “BRMs are our foot soldiers. They interface with the agents daily. They are in the field trying to get business owners on board the Moniepoint platform. They don't just stop at selling. They also provide the first level of support to the business owner. One thing that has contributed to the effectiveness is the commission that they earn. They basically look at themselves as entrepreneurs and they are willing to go all out. We have gotten that right and that is why you see that every corner you go in Nigeria, you see our platform there,” Sanni said.
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