How to grow your payments app with solar lamp and home system sellers
By SendPay Business · · 2 min read
In many places without reliable power, small sellers and agents sell solar lamps, phone chargers and home systems that run a few lights, a radio or a TV. Few customers can pay the full price at once, so many sellers take a deposit and then small daily, weekly or monthly payments. Collecting those payments in cash, often in villages far apart, is slow and hard to track. A payments app that takes deposits, collects regular instalments by phone and shows who is up to date can win these sellers, and every customer who pays sees your app.
Talk to solar sellers
Ask local solar lamp and home system sellers:
- Do customers pay in full, or with a deposit and instalments?
- How do you collect instalments, and how often do you travel to collect them?
- How do you keep track of who has paid and who is behind?
- How do you pay the distributors who supply your stock?
Take deposits on the spot
Letting customers pay the deposit by phone when the kit is handed over means no cash to carry between villages.
Collect instalments by phone
A regular payment link or reminder for each customer lets them pay small amounts when they can, and shows the seller at a glance who is up to date.
Grow through agents and villages
Solar sellers often work through local agents in many villages. When the seller and their agents collect payments through your app, every household they serve sees it working.
Build it
Create your own financial platform.
Pick a template, name it, brand it, preview every page before you pay. Your brand, your users, your fees.
Build my platform →Questions people ask
What about solar installers?
The solar installers guide covers deposits, stage payments and sometimes regular payments for bigger solar systems.
Solar installers →What about phone shops and airtime sellers?
The phone shops and airtime sellers guide covers busy shops that handle many small payments a day.
Phone shops and airtime sellers →Can I call it a bank?
In most countries "bank" is a protected word you can only use with a banking licence. Call it an account, a wallet, an app or a platform. The accounts and payments behind a SendPay Business platform are powered by licensed partners.
Is there a step-by-step plan I can follow?
Yes. The free launch checklist takes you from picking your people and naming your app to setting fees, going live and winning your first ten customers.
Digital bank app launch checklist →How do I start?
Pick a template, name it and preview every page before you pay. Your platform can be live on your own domain within 24 hours of confirmation.
Build my platform →Read next
This guide is general information, not legal or financial advice. SendPay Business is a technology company, not a bank, and does not take deposits; regulated services on the platforms are provided by licensed partners. PayPal, Patreon and Substack are named as reference points only and are not affiliated with SendPay Business.