GustPay dreams of zero queues at festivals with NFC wristband trial

GustPay, the South African geo-fenced mobile payments startup that recently moved into beta, held a launch party last week and introduced about 400 of Stellenbosch’s university goers to its smartphone payment technology.

The event celebrated the launch of GustPay’s apps in both the Apple iTunes and Google
Play stores. It was held in partnership with TrustFabric and online music discovery service Boom.fm, also part of the Stellenbosch based World of Avatar group, the investment holding company. Joe Botha, one of the founders of GustPay is also the founder of TrustFabric, a software company specialising in vendor relationship management.

The event called Grim Furdango, was South Africa’s first music festival to combine NFC (Near-Field Communication) wristband payments with mobile phone payments. Held at the Klein Libertas Theatre, the event featured local act Black Handed Kites who produced the soundtrack behind GustPay’s swanky new video.

Students who had registered online for the event were handed NFC wristbands. Funds were loaded onto the wristbands in a simple process where their tag was linked to their mobile phone number and TrustFabric profile.

“We had very positive feedback from people who attended the event,” says Botha. “The payment process was quick and convenient and the bar queue was never longer than two or three people, even though we only had two bar staff for a party of more than 400 people.”

RAMfest festival goers can look forward to a new festival experience. GustPay is partnering with the local events company to shorten queues through wristband payments.

“The dream is to offer a cashless environment where you can manage your wristband tag from your smartphone. Load money on your tag and leave your phone in the car – like a personal mobile ATM. Or if the tag gets lost, cancel it from your phone without losing any money. You no longer need the stress of a wallet full of cash that can be lost or stolen.” says Botha.

Wristbands are scanned at the door for access control. Festival goers can reuse their tags and the tags are waterproof. Thirsty? Just swipe the NFC wristband. The user’s profile photo and balance shows up on an iPad and the payment is confirmed by a second swipe.

The NFC wristbands can also store a person’s medical conditions and risks and can prevent the sale of alcohol to under-eighteens when linked to TrustFabric’s Child Protect service which a database of date of birth records linked to mobile phone numbers.

“Our challenge is to create a culture of mobile payments. The Stellenbosch student community and music festivals are fun places to start. We designed a payment system, which we would want to use. I believe there is lots of room for innovation as we take online trust and payment technologies into real
world experiences,” says Botha.