“I needed a solution for taking mobile payments in my own business so I developed the app for myself, little did I know that within months so many thousands of other people around the world would want it, too.”
Maeve Lander of Perth, who has been coding since the age of 10, has developed a mobile payments app that has transacted more than three million dollars since its launch earlier this year.
Lander says that we are living in a world where disruptive technology is changing businesses of all types. As examples she cites how Uber has completely changed the way we get from A to B and Airbnb has changed the way we book accommodation. The PayNow app lowers the barrier for small business owners wanting to accept card via mobile payments on the go. It cuts out unnecessary fees and administration involved with the usual process of setting up and facilitating card-based payments from customers.
It’s about making things easier for consumers and business owners alike, Lander explains. Mobile payments are particularly useful for scenarios where there is no power – a market stall for example, or a pizza delivery boy who arrives to find a customer with no cash handy! The app enables entrepreneurs from beauty salons through to mobile mechanics to grow their business by offering customers choices in the way they pay and allowing them to grow faster and easier.
The app, called PayNow for Stripe, is available to download, free on both Android and iOS devices. It allows people to take card payments directly from their mobile phone without the need for special merchant bank accounts, EFTPOS machines or accounting systems.
The app has thousands of users located all around the globe, including the US, Europe and Australia, but was only developed by Lander to help herself resole an issue she had come up against, that was holding her own business back.
“I needed a solution for taking mobile payments in my own business so I developed the app for myself, little did I know that within months so many thousands of other people around the world would want it, too,” she says. “I’ve always had a passion for solving problems, using software and constantly trying out new ideas, and that is how this app came about.”
Lander believes encouraging women to get more involved in fields like internet technology, engineering and computer science is vital for increased creativity and essential to bringing Australia forward as a global powerhouse for technology and innovation.
For more information and to download the application for free, visit paynow-app.com
Inside Small Business