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aying and collection of rent is a huge hustle. While most tenants are willing to pay rent, they are unable to pay it timely due to multiple financial pressures and hard economic times. Delayed rent payments in turn affect landlords as they are unable to appropriately earn from their investments.
To cure this, innovators are using technology to manage rent payment and collection, making it predictable and transparent for both tenants and landlords.
One solution that was developed to mitigate these challenges is RentBeta; a platform created specifically to reduce the stress and burden that comes with paying and collecting rent.
“Our overall goal is to ensure that whether you are a tenant or a landlord, you never miss a rent payment. We created a mobile platform that allows tenants to pay their rent in micro instalments. We created this platform after realizing that the majority of people who struggle with paying rent consistently are those who don’t have a standard monthly income. We thus created something that would serve these people so that they can pay daily, weekly or bi-weekly,” Brian Tweheyo, the RentBeta Founder and CEO said.
He added: “If you are a tenant whose landlord has already signed up with RentBeta, then you don’t need to create a schedule because your landlord would have already created it. Those whose landlords are not on RentBeta create their schedule. After this, we break it down for you and for instance, if your monthly rent is UGX 600,000, then the schedule will indicate that you will pay UGX 20,000 per day until the full payment is done.”
Mr Tweheyo noted that this model guarantees that rent money is safe as it is a form of target saving that can only be used for paying rent, and not anything else.
“On the side of the landlords, we guarantee predictability of rent payments. We agree with a landlord, pay them upfront, and then collect the money from the tenants through a convenient payment schedule.”
He highlighted that currently, most of their payments are digital, through mobile money but with plans to add bank cards and direct transfers.
RentBeta has featured on Day 10 of 40 Days 40 FinTechs initiative Season 5.
Run under HiPipo’s Include Everyone program that also encompasses other initiatives such as FinTech Landscape Exhibition, Women in FinTech Hackathon, Summit & Incubator, and the Digital and Financial Inclusion Summit and Digital Impact Awards Africa; the #40Days40FinTechs platform aptly provides a setting for the various players and stakeholders involved in digital and financial technology to exhibit their products and services. It also gives players a platform to share their ideas on how the unserved and underserved by the present financial systems can be brought into the fold.
“We are happy to kick off Season Five of 40 Days 40 FinTechs. Last year, we focused on end-user experiences, and this year, we will focus on the innovativeness of the FinTechs. We are having candid discussions with FinTechs about their innovations and latest upgrades and what impact they envision these products and services and upgrades will have on their customers,” Innocent Kawooya, the HiPipo Chief Executive Officer noted.
With over 150 participants in the last four years, #40Days40FinTechs continues to be the world’s premier showcase event for innovations that are enabling underserved populations to join the digital economy space. We know that this can only get better owing to the inspiration and collaboration of our partners; Level One Project, Mojaloop Foundation, INFITX, Cyberplc Academy, Ideation Corner, and Crosslake Technologies. Most importantly, the initiative owes its continued success to the generous support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
