AppDate: Keep financial goals on track with Spot Money

Spot Money

Every year we make resolutions, but sticking to them is a different story. Whether these goals include saving more, eating out less or getting a side hustle, we start off the year strongly, only to have our resolutions fade into nothing by March.

Andre Hugo, CEO at Spot Money, shares three reasons why it is beneficial to get a secondary bank account to help keep resolutions.

• Traditional bank accounts fulfill important functions like financing a car or paying off a bond. More people are using secondary accounts to manage their daily lifestyle expenses. This is where digital banking solutions like Spot Money provide South Africans with a hassle-free way to take care of managing which bills to pay, grocery shopping, buying airtime or data, and splitting the restaurant tab with friends.
• Secondary accounts help people better manage their finances. Using a single bank account to cover all financial transactions can become daunting. Spot Money lets customers approach money in a new way and create multiple accounts for specific purposes beyond salary deposits and critical transactions.
• Try going virtual. For instance, a virtual account can be created for each online shopping site a person uses and be disabled or enabled via the Spot Money app as required. Similarly, these secondary accounts can just as easily be set up to cover specific expenses such as utilities, fuel, and the like. In this way, people are better able to plan their budget and see immediately what funds they have available.

“Spot Money’s shared account functionality allows up to ten people to manage their finances jointly,” says Hugo. “So, whether they are managing household bills, ride-sharing, or even planning that next holiday together, these shared accounts will give a full overview of transactions. Once a user creates a joint account payments can be made as into it as needed.” 

There are no monthly fees to run a Spot Money shared account. Accounts can be created and shared instantly, and members can be added and removed in seconds by the shared account admin. All transactions are tracked in real-time. 

To open a SpotMoney account, the user downloads the Spot Money app from their app store, and takes a photo of their ID and a profile picture. While users can choose to have a physical debit card sent to them, they can use their phone to pay directly on any NFC-enabled point of sale device. They can also scan a QR code, and shop securely online using virtual cards. 

There is the opportunity to earn immediate cashback when Spot is used at selected partners like Nando’s, Vida e caffe and Checkers.

Platform: Android, iOS and the Huawei App Gallery

Expect to pay: A free download

Stockists: Visit the Spot Money website here for downloading and sign-up instructions.

Ratings For Schools

Ratings For Schools is a nationwide school finding platform that offers parents, students, and educators the opportunity to locate suitable schools based on their individual needs. The goal is to assist parents across the country by making the process of finding the right school for their children simpler. 

Parents can find a good fit for their child based on their budget, location and other features like aftercare and holiday care, extramural activities, sports offered and the school’s facilities. The platform also offers details on the school’s curriculum, government registration status and fee structure. Parents can compare schools of interest to help make the right decision when enrolling their children.

The idea of Ratings For Schools came about after parents Greg and Carol Ofori relocated to Durban in the middle of the pandemic and had to enrol their children in a new school. The process proved incredibly difficult since information about schools was scarce.

Platform: Any device with an up-to-date Internet browser

Expect to pay: A free service

Stockists: Visit Ratings For Schools here to begin comparing

SweepSouth

Naspers-backed SweepSouth,  an online home services platform, has acquired Egyptian start-up, Filkhedma. A home cleaning service operating in three cities in Egypt, it serves thousands of customers with cleaning, maintenance, and beauty services, while empowering over 2,000 service providers through technology.

The acquisition almost doubles SweepSouth’s addressable market on the continent, allowing it to launch new services in South Africa, Egypt, Kenya and Nigeria.

“Egypt’s growing middle class, increasing disposable income and Internet penetration, offers huge opportunities for the home services platform of the two companies,” says Naspers Foundry head, Fabian Whate.

For more information, visit SweepSouth here.

Just Procure online tendering system

With the introduction of restrictive Covid-19 lockdown regulations in South Africa, Just Client Consulting identified a need for an online-based tender submission platform, which resulted in an online tendering system known as Just Procure.

Just Procure is a web-based system that enables corporates and government institutions to publicise tenders, allowing prospective bidders to respond to tenders using the portal. Just Procure is built with the intention of automating and improving the procurement workflow – from publicising tenders online to evaluating and awarding them to successful bidder.

Just Procure makes it possible for the potential service providers to submit bid documents online and its security features stop tender interference. Prospective bidders have a Q&A section where they can ask questions and receive responses for specific tenders.

“We have developed Just Procure with the intention of eradicating paper-based submissions and improving smart document management,” says Larry Kgatle, Just Client Consulting director.

Once the tender is closed, the supply chain will add the Bid Evaluating Committee (BEC) to the tender evaluation team. BECs members will then evaluate the submitted service provider’s bids online. Each BEC member will only see the tenders they are assigned, and will only see their scores.

Platform: Visit Just Procure’s website here for more information.

MeeTime

Thanks to tech and software advances, connecting via video conferencing is getting easier and more widely used. For example, MeeTime has been downloaded from the Huawei AppGallery over 1.3-million times. 

Developed by Huawei Services, MeeTime offers high-definition video calling and clear voice calls on select Huawei smartphones, tablets, smartwatches and smart TVs. A key differentiator is that the MeeTime feed almost always remains clear, despite poor network conditions, unlike many mainstream VoIP apps. According to Huawei, this is thanks to the company’s GPU Turbo technology.

MeeTime features include:

• Screen sharing: if one is unsure about something, such as an online purchase and they need a friend’s assistance, explanations are made clearer by the screen sharing function. 
• Low-light enhancement: night-time video calls are improved through the low-light enhancement feature by clicking the onscreen light bulb icon.
• Screen doodling: MeeTime offers users the ability to draw on the screen to clarify or add more to what they are saying.

Platform: Selected Huawei smartphones only

Expect to pay: A free download

Stockists: Visit the Huawei AppGallery here for downloading instructions.