Biometric payment card system pushing financial inclusion in Botswana

More than 75,000 food voucher beneficiaries in Botswana are said to have seamlessly completed digital purchases at local stores thanks to a fintech solution deployed by SmartSwitch Botswana.

It is a biometrics-enabled smart card system which facilitates secure and dignified payments using Botswana’s Universal Electronic Payment System (UEPS) infrastructure, according to a recent statement from the Lesaka Technologies subsidiary.

Since SmartSwitch was introduced in the country in 2006, it has been used by thousands of beneficiaries of food grants to receive funds from local councils and pay for merchant purchases at local shops with interest on unspent balances. Around 50,000 citizens got financially included in the first three years of the system’s implementation.

Grant beneficiaries hold SmartSwitch biometric payment cards which enable them to make payments for their food at more than 1,200 shops, with each transaction authenticated through biometric verification, the statement explains. Transactions can also be completed offline using biometrics-enable POS terminals.

SmartSwitch was selected for the job after a tender by the Ministry of Local Government calling for a solution that would provide beneficiaries with a choice of which food items they would prefer, and when and where they would like to collect their packages.

The Managing Director of SmartSwitch Botswana, France Lassie Mabiletsa, said the aspect of choice is paramount. “Although we applied cutting-edge technology to the challenge, we also knew we needed to create a deeply human solution to address the audience’s needs. We had to provide beneficiaries with choice and restore their dignity.”

“We’re not standing still. We’re reinvesting in the system to do more for more people. It is our aim to continue to be a trusted partner to the government, a reliable ally to merchants, and a gateway to dignity, choice, and empowerment for thousands of people in Botswana,” he added.

Per the firm, the system came into place as a response to a longstanding problem which the government faced in dispensing food grant payments. Before the system, most of the process was analogue and paper-based, with several complaints of leakages and inefficiencies throughout the grant distribution chain. Beneficiaries sometimes queued up for many hours to collect their food allocations using wheelbarrows, and with cash changing hands.

How to leverage digital identity in the financial sector to ramp up financial inclusion was profoundly discussed at ID4Africa 2025.

Article Topics

Africa  |  biometric cards  |  biometric payments  |  biometrics  |  Botswana  |  financial inclusion  |  SmartSwitch