A more nicely formatted version can be found here: https://adonese.notion.site/Competitors-a17d9c0f732d4439b682f77f68b94878.
| Name | Volume Market share | Rating (*) | Strengths | Weakness | Business Model | Marketing | Owner | Developed By |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bankak | 1m | 4.4(35k) | used primarily for p2p transfers up to SDG 5M for maximum daily transfers — can be increased to 20M and even more | mBOK or Bankak is Bank of Khartoum owned financial app. Their whole business model is about p2p transfers: everything in the app is just a p2p. They offer other services, but all in all it is just p2p transfers. Since the app is also owned by the Bank, and majority of the transactions happen inside their network, the bank also will benefit from: 1) same network transactions == practically zero fees 2) the money will still be in their accounts which means they have more reserve to pursue in other ventures | 1 They make use of all social media platforms. 2 Radio/TV3 word of mouth4 Billboards5 Print | Bank of Khartoum | Pakistani Software Company | |
| Ocash | +100k | 4.3(3k) | ONB is leveraging their very big customers by offering them a Bank-themed app so they can use. | 1 Not user-friendly app2 bad CS3 Transfer to other banks through ATM card is not available4 not support for E155 fewer services6 log folder for transactions history7 Poor customer services. Bank of Khartoum for example has a call center service and it is a dedicated unit. ONB and other banks don’t have this solution at all! You have to go to the bank’s branch in case of any issues occurred in the app. | OCash is Omdurman National Bank app. It is directly connected to ONB financial switch system as well as having access to some of EBS services (bill payments for example). The refresh redesign of the app is also a poor ripoff of Cashq standard layout.The app currently doesn’t offer any of the core banking services such as loan applications, account creations and so. | 1 Radio/TV2 Billboards3 Print4 very poor online presence | Omdurman National Bank | Access To Arabia (Jordan) |
| SyberPayPlus | +50k | 4.2(2k) | Syber is the flagship product of EBS. They have so much power they used to alter services to fit their business requirements. They have also recently joined forces with UCB to offer more services and leverage the bank’s license.powerfull online presence(website, blog, social media)2 the marketing content is amazing | SyberPay | SyberPay | |||
| Fawry | +100k | 4.1(10k) | 1 The #1 channel for existing Faisal bank customers to | 1. Transfer to other banks through ATM card is not available2 Fawry is newly launched and like ONB app they still don’t have a dedicated customer support channel. | Faisal bank used to be the biggest bank in Sudan in terms of Capital at least. The Big 4 Banks main concern is to have an app such that their current customers can use, which on surface seems a good strategy, however, when put in practice, it might backfire on them. users have big expectations for a bank app; a failure to commit to that promise will put the bank in the risk of losing customers adding a new channel without the proper processes and support is very risky and will rather affect the whole picture of the bank: if i made a transaction of paying for utility and it didn’t work (i didn’t get a refund), that might violate the trust established between the customers and the bank. In practice, Faisal and Omdurman they are all use the same billers interface that is provided via EBS and we know it is always down, plus the failure that also occurs. If the bank doesn’t have a support channel, or their support channel failed to resolve my 1000 SDG issue properly, i would be worried that i won’t trust them with bigger amounts! What if i tried to send 1,000,000 SDG and it failed! | 1 no online presence (no website, no social media channels)2 Billboards2 Radio/TV | ||
| Fisal Islamic Bank | The same Pakistani firm that developed Bankak App. Took them 6 years and more than 8 Million dollars | BushraPay | +10k | 4.2(326) | Bushra is owned by Tirahal, the largest ride-sharing platform in Sudan. Tirhal is also easily the biggest startup in Sudan (valuation and number of employees). One of the most outstanding customer support services after Bankak and telecoms is actually Tirhal. Tirhal used to be developed by a Belarusian company (revenue share), but they are now migrating their whole offering into an in-house one (they started with the driver app, and now to the customers). Back to Bushra! The main reason as to why Bushra was made is more or less dated to a meeting we had in 2019. I sat with one of Tirhal shareholders (the major shareholder then) and we discussed a potential acquisition and / or collaboration in terms of adding e-payment facility to their app. The propsal was slightly different than the product and the business model now, but basically the idea was to allow their customers to pay their trip fees via their mobiles. | |||
| Sahlh GO | +10k | 4.1(730) | 1 good UX | 1. Not regularly updated | Sahlah was a prominent in payment in Sudan in 2018, just before the revolution took over things. They don’t differ from any EBS or fintech company in Sudan: they want to make revenue via transaction fees. Which is a ridiculously naïve strategy since in 2018 the dollar was 40 SDG (at its highest rate, the average throughout the year was 25). In 2020, the usd topped 250 SDG! Sahlah were able to survive by selling their app to the banks: Workers National Bank for example. I sat with one of their founders and we have a lovely conversation and in fact he was so pissed off at them, he practically told me everything about their whole business and even the business agreements they had with banks — we can discuss that later. One thing to note, and this is also something i have been super cautious of is the technology part: Sahlah has partnered with an Indian company to help them develop the app on slightly less fees (just the development cost to be paid from Sahlah to the indian company), and the Indian will take 30% of the transaction fees (for the support and the features). That has worsened the case since in 2019, the company ran into a financial struggle and they needed to cut ties with the indian company. The company is in the risk of dissolving after the huge conflicts between the partners. (Their founder actually offered me their whole system with extremely generous offer as he framed it, but i didn’t take it) | good online presence(website, social media) | E-Transactions | Indian Software House |