The landscape of financial technology in Eswatini has reached a definitive turning point. After eighteen months of rigorous testing, DeltaPay has officially graduated from the Central Bank of Eswatini’s (CBE) FinTech Regulatory Sandbox and has become a fully licensed entity.
For Adrian Albert Koch, CEO of DeltaPay, receiving their Mobile Money License is a milestone that is less about changing the daily grind and more about solidifying a foundation of trust with the Emaswati public. “Fundamentally, it is one of the biggest milestones for a FinTech company like ours,” Koch shared in an exclusive interview. “We do payments, and that is a heavily regulated space—rightfully so. Being fully licensed is an emblem of trust. At the end of the day, people trust us with their money.” The licensing process serves as a formal nod to the company’s internal integrity. Koch noted that having the Central Bank approve their Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Counter-Terrorism Financing (CTF), and Know Your Customer (KYC) protocols demonstrates a level of certified professionalism that is now ready for the big stage.
The Sandbox Success Story
DeltaPay is the first full company to successfully navigate the CBE sandbox. While previous participants often tested small, isolated projects, DeltaPay spent the past year and a half building its entire operational structure. “The beauty of the sandbox is that we have been slowly progressing and building out features,” Koch explained. “Having the documents changes mostly how we can approach bigger clients. If you’re dealing with a bank or a mobile money company, there is an expectation of licensing. On a day-to-day basis, I don’t think much changes, simply because the sandbox prepared us so well.”
Lessons in Customer Behaviour
The journey hasn’t been without its learning curves. Koch admitted that predicting customer behaviour is nearly impossible until the product reaches users. “You can never estimate customer behaviour; that’s the first thing,” Koch said. “When you bring a new product to market, you understand the problem you are trying to solve and have an expectation of how people will interact with it. In general, that expectation isn’t far off reality, but there are subtle nuances.”
One of the most significant hurdles was the educational component of digital security. DeltaPay initially encountered unexpected resistance from users regarding standard security protocols, such as password strength requirements and the use of unique usernames as identifiers. In Eswatini, where users are deeply accustomed to using phone numbers as their primary account handles, this created a friction point that required a strategic pivot.
To bridge this gap, the company adapted the platform to allow transactions via phone numbers, creating a more familiar mobile money feel. “It’s about allowing people to continue in their ways a little bit and giving them options, rather than forcing them down a certain path.” Additionally, the company introduced features like a password meter to provide real-time feedback, smoothing out the onboarding process, and ensuring security doesn’t come at the cost of accessibility.
Expanding the Portfolio: Beyond the Individual Consumer
While DeltaPay launched with a strong focus on the individual consumer, highlighting free payments and scan-to-pay features, the sandbox experience revealed a massive opportunity in the B2B sector. “We realized that we need something to entice businesses. We’ve spent the last year building a product portfolio tailored to their needs,” Koch said. This includes upcoming features such as bulk uploads, improved reconciliation tools, and integrations with online platforms. A primary example is their partnership with MulaSport, with more integrations expected to follow.
Scaling Beyond the Sandbox
Interestingly, DeltaPay’s strategy deviates from the typical fintech focus on the unbanked. Instead, the platform is seeing significant growth among young professionals and the working class. Koch explains that because people who earn are the ones who frequently pay, the product occupies a unique space between cash and traditional banking. “The product we offer is somewhere between cash and banking; it offers the convenience of not carrying cash and the safety that comes with it, while being significantly cheaper than traditional banking,” Koch said.
He highlighted that in a market where online payments are difficult and card payment gateways are nearly non-existent, DeltaPay fills a vital void. “We don’t have the ambition to be a full-on bank, but the way people use the application is much closer to a neo-bank than it is to classic mobile money.”
By bridging this gap, DeltaPay is advancing financial inclusion through modern utility rather than just basic access. During the sandbox phase, the company operated under a regulatory cap of 5,000 customers, which has since been lifted. While the focus during that period was primarily on brand recognition and awareness, the strategy has now shifted toward aggressive user growth. “We are seeing connection data pick up and transaction numbers growing rapidly,” Koch said. This expansion is being driven by targeted initiatives, such as their recent university campaigns, which are bringing a significant number of new users to the platform each month.
While a strong partnership with MulaSport initially gave the app a foothold in the betting and ticketing sectors, the next phase of growth is about everyday utility. DeltaPay is preparing to diversify its ecosystem by moving into the retail space. Koch confirmed that plans to roll out with grocery stores are already in place, signaling a shift toward digital payments becoming a staple for daily necessities rather than just specialized services. To lower the barrier even further, DeltaPay struck a deal with MTN Eswatini to provide zero-rated data for the app. This strategic agreement ensures that any user with an MTN SIM card can access the app’s full suite of financial services even without an active data bundle or airtime balance.
DeltaPay is also shifting away from traditional brick-and-mortar constraints toward a seamless, user-centric digital experience, allowing users to onboard themselves instantly by scanning an ID and taking a selfie, without visiting a physical branch or paying setup fees.
While many fintech players focus on aggressively expanding physical footprints, Koch advocated for a smarter, more sustainable approach. Instead of trying to build an agent network like everyone else, the objective is to better utilize the existing network.
He pointed out that Eswatini already has between 15,000 and 20,000 agents. “It makes more sense to just have the same number of people and just bring more volume to them.” This philosophy of efficiency is being bolstered by the company’s integration into the CBE Switch, which is currently in the production pilot phase.
Competitive Edge
The core of DeltaPay’s competitive edge lies in a two-fold value proposition: modern convenience and disruptive pricing. By keeping the application free for the end-user, Koch is positioning digital payments as a true rival to physical currency. “To the end user, cash is free. So, if you want a system that is competitive with cash, it has to be free too. I think that’s the baseline and a differentiator from a lot of the current systems if you’re looking at the banks,” Koch explained. Under this business model, charges are only applied to businesses when value is provided, ensuring that, for the average person, the core function of making a payment remains cost-free. “That will always be the case as far as I can see into the future,” he said.
The Road Ahead: 12 Months to 5 Years
Koch envisions DeltaPay becoming a comprehensive financial super-app in the vein of international giants like Revolut. “I think, essentially, an all-in-one finance application, that’s where it goes,” Koch said. “Payments will always be at the core but bringing in everything that’s payment-related: card payments, cross-border transfers, integration into Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA)—basically remittances—integration into your stocks and crypto; and that’s the long-term vision.”
He sees the next few years as a time to blur the lines between banks and FinTechs, where DeltaPay will integrate everything from utility payments and microfinance to cross-border remittances via SEPA and even stock or cryptocurrency options. However, he remains cautious about the pace of these innovations, particularly in crypto, given the high level of consumer education required.
The company aims to pioneer the future of Eswatini’s financial landscape, ensuring that every feature built contributes to a mission of making transactions secure, affordable, and convenient for everyone. “DeltaPay goes a step beyond being merely free by introducing a rewards element; users currently receive 0.4% cashback when making payments,” he added.
This is designed to shift the public’s perception of digital finance from a backup plan to a preferred lifestyle. “We aim to bring innovation not just in the actual payment but everything that comes with DeltaPay, just to get people to enjoy digital payments rather than just using them because they forgot their wallets,” Koch concluded. Through this blend of international standards and local incentives, DeltaPay is not just facilitating transactions; it is redefining the value of money in a digital-first Eswatini.