FinTech Entrepreneur Philip Belamant Focuses Experience on Accessibility and Innovation

10 min readApr 1, 2022

The fast-growing $27 billion eCommerce market’s continued expansion has invited the development of new technologies and business models, especially in the rapidly evolving digital payments segment. Philip Belamant, Zilch’s Founder and CEO, has helped this ubiquitous “buy now, pay later” payments firm to become a leader in this highly competitive arena.

Prior to launching Zilch, Belamant demonstrated a proven ability to bring modern technology-based payment solutions to people living in developing markets. The solutions’ adoption has helped to shape economic shifts that are opening the door to new opportunities for customers.

Philip Belamant Develops an Early Technology Focus

Philip Belamant’s technology immersion began at an early age. His father, Serge Belamant, has long been known for his payment technology innovations geared to the expansive African market.

During Philip’s childhood, he spent long hours in his father’s office, gaining technological insights while also learning about the operations side of the company. As Serge Belamant’s business grew, Philip became even more intrigued by this rapidly growing industry.

However, Philip Belamant’s interactions with his father were not always strictly related to business. The pair had discovered that they shared an affinity for mobile gaming pursuits. Philip Belamant describes this unconventional alliance, which laid the foundation for his later work in the mobile gaming arena.

“I would sit and we would build mobile games. My father and I, rather than playing them, but actually go and write mobile games and build them. Which was always good fun,” he reflects.

Belamant’s University Experiences Shape His Career

With an established affinity for technology, Philip Belamant attended St Davids Marist Inanda High School and then the University of Johannesburg in South Africa. In 2006, he earned his Honors in Bachelor of Science in Information Technology, graduating Cum Laude. Belamant’s studies strongly focused on emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (or AI) and mobile technology.

For his senior-year thesis project, Philip Belamant led a team that built a biometric security system. The system utilized AI and fingerprint technology, which remains the backbone of many current biometric security installations. Belamant’s project won the Microsoft-sponsored Project Firefly global competition. This achievement made him eligible to commercialize his successful concept.

Philip Belamant’s Mobile Gaming Company Takes Shape

Ironically, Philip Belamant’s biometric security system project was not his first choice. He had wanted to build a mobile gaming platform until he learned that the University of Johannesburg would own much of the project’s intellectual property. Therefore, he focused his efforts on a less-interesting concept (he was willing to forgo) but still ended up winning the competition — clearly demonstrating his grasp of emerging technologies.

After 21-year-old Belamant earned his degree, he jumped straight into entrepreneurship by establishing PBel, an ambitious mobile social gaming company. Joined by several colleagues from his senior thesis project, Belamant received inspiration from his highly successful father.

Mobile Games Used Prepaid Airtime as Currency

PBel’s designers structured their mobile games around a new prepaid airtime application. In South Africa, mobile phone systems have historically been structured around prepaid airtime rather than service contracts.

To purchase their airtime, users had to visit a central location, often traveling miles on foot or via public transportation. Once the user added the airtime to their account, they could use this airtime as a type of virtual currency. Specifically, users could use this airtime to purchase virtual items or enter competitions that would increase their standing in the game.

Mobile Game Users Shift Their Focus

Over time, Philip Belamant observed that users were becoming less interested in playing the mobile games. Instead, they were devoting more attention to the related airtime competitions and payment services. “What we noticed over some time is that we had a huge amount of interest in our airtime competitions and payment systems users could make use of to deposit or withdrawal/spend money. So, people could enter and they could win more airtime credit, and they could transfer this credit to one another or use it to make purchases.

“But what people weren’t really doing is they actually weren’t playing the game as much. And so, what we decided to do was let’s just scrap the games and focus on this payments portion of the business and these use-cases and competitions. And that’s really how we then started to pivot the business,” he explains.

PBel Becomes an Airtime Purveyor

Philip Belamant’s shift in focus led to a partnership with Windhoek city’s CEO in Namibia. Within four months, PBel became the largest Namibian airtime reseller. Soon afterward, the company expanded into a service provider role. Over time, PBel partnered with leading mobile network operators to expand its presence into over 27 African countries.

Virtual Prepaid Mastercard Application

Next, PBel embarked on a more sophisticated project. The Company partnered with Mastercard to issue virtual airtime-based cards redeemable for real-world items. To illustrate, the Mastercard World Food Programme (or alternatively the IFC World Food Programme) targeted customers in rural South African regions.

Each customer received a certain amount of virtual credit on their green-screen phone. Using that virtual currency and USSD technology, the customer could purchase basic essentials such as food, clothing, or healthcare from selected providers.

How the World Food Programme Works

Philip Belamant presents an overview of this landmark cooperative program.

“One of the primary initiatives was the World Food Programme. And that really is basically the distribution of value to people in third-world countries that is also more sophisticated than simply cash. It’s the idea that you distribute some store value that a customer can transform into grains of rice or barley rather than fungible cashing.

“And so, the World Food Programme was really quite important, and it was a key partner. And we would then distribute the card credentials, but we would lock it down to certain merchants that would only sell the materials that obviously they intended for you to buy.

“So, that might be food. It might be clothing, or it might be healthcare,” he explains. Stated another way, the targeted virtual credit distribution did not carry the same risks as a cash distribution that could be applied to a non-approved use.

PBel’s Effect on “B2B2C” Airtime Distribution

For perspective, Philip Belamant explains the “B2B2C” distribution of airtime in developing markets. First, the large communications companies typically sell airtime at a discounted rate to local vendors. In turn, each vendor sells the airtime through small shops or single business owners. Individual customers purchase the airtime from these lower-level sources.

Although he didn’t see it at the time, Philip Belamant explains why PBel was so successful in the South African market. “And the reason why was a number of things. It was direct to the customer, it brought them a huge deal of convenience, which is that they could do this instantly from their phone.

“But what was important is it left the infrastructure, the ecosystem of airtime reselling, intact…We look back at it, and we say it’s disruption without any change — which is probably the best form of disruption, right,” he concludes. When PBel added electricity and other offerings to the mix, Belamant and his team began to appreciate the value the company was adding to the market.

Borrowed Airtime Service Fosters a New Paradigm

Looking at the bigger picture, Philip Belamant tells how PBel’s airtime-borrowing service helped to drive a large-scale paradigm shift. “We offered a service that allowed customers to borrow airtime. And they could then pay that back to a vendor in the streets whenever they next saw them.

“And what we noticed with this was that customers were always paying back. So, no one was defaulting…We realized that people weren’t borrowing the airtime because they didn’t have the money. People were borrowing the airtime because it reduced their travel requirements and was more convenient.

“They didn’t have to now travel 10’s of kilometers, and that’s normally walking or taking public transport, to go and get to a vendor anymore. They could be sitting at their home, run out of airtime, use our service to borrow airtime, and carry on with their families or friends…

“And that started with airtime, and then of course we moved into prepaid electricity, prepaid water, bill payments, all of these things. Which are fundamentals, that again people completely transformed a lot of these customers’ lives,” Belamant remarks.

Focus on Customer Convenience and Value

PBel’s successful prepaid airtime experiences illustrated the potential benefits of integrating two powerful technologies. Philip Belamant realized that combining mobile technology and payment technology could provide customers with convenience and value.

Belamant also saw this development as a new approach to financial inclusion that did not rely on a bank account. “We realized how much value there is in this and that it directly plugs into financial inclusion…Yeah, I would say from that moment forward then the picture became clearer,” he summarizes.

Putting PBel’s Achievements in Perspective

Philip Belamant details how PBel’s founding objective helped to facilitate a ground-breaking technology that helped to bring users’ lives into the 21st century. “I mean initially we wanted to build cool, social games on phones…We started with an objective to say we think mobile technology is the future. This was before even the iPhone had arrived yet in South Africa. It was just, I think, a few years later it launched in the States.

“So, there was no such thing as app stores or any of these things…Then that transformed completely with a very short ‘hop, skip, and jump’ into ‘we can use this for good, and we can drive that good by providing this convenience and access to customers’…And all of that happened in less than two years,” he reflects.

How PBel Built Trust with Its Customers

Customers often distrust large banks and corporations for their profits-first approach. Fortunately, PBel was able to counter that sentiment with well-coordinated branding and a targeted approach that eliminated the airtime resellers. This two-part strategy helped to earn customers’ trust.

PBel’s first product, Moola Mobile, caught on via word of mouth because of its strong added value and direct-to-customer business model. Umoya Manje, the airtime component, was equally successful.

Philip Belamant describes the clear-cut product adoption process. “So, people would try it, it worked, and it’s brilliant. And when something has that much value, it’s not hard to convince people to keep coming back to it or for them to recommend you,” he explains.

While Philip Belamant knew PBel was providing customers with real value, he didn’t know they were building their own businesses using the company platform. In essence, they borrowed extra airtime and electricity and sold it to other customers in the marketplace. Belamant summarizes this accidental ecosystem’s operation.

“So, we went out and built something that from a technology perspective was hugely valuable. And what that does [is] allows people to be creative on top of that, which is really interesting. So, people can go and create their own solutions or build businesses on top of this, and it enables people to do that. And that’s what happened with this story which in turn led to exponential growth.”

Comparing PBel and Microfinance Banks

PBel’s South African marketplace successes resemble those of a good-sized microfinance bank. In essence, the bank is enabling the formation of new local economies via access to credit and microloans. Grameen Bank utilizes this approach.

In PBel’s case, this targeted local economy was built around peer-to-peer lending. Each small community operated within its own financial ecosystem while contributing to the broader African economic landscape.

PBel’s Partnership with Uber

As PBel gradually took on more sophisticated projects, the company formed a partnership with the well-known ride-sharing app Uber. Before the project’s inception, South African customers did not have a digital method of payment for their Uber trips. Therefore, they were forced to pay cash upon delivery of each Uber service and eCommerce too, for that matter.

Thanks to PBel’s digital technology solution, customers could now order an Uber without having to carry cash. Instead, each customer could submit payment via a virtual card connected to their airtime account. In addition to solving a widespread Uber customer problem, this system positioned PBel as a credible player in the card payments world.

Philip Belamant and Serge Belamant Join Forces

After Philip Belamant had achieved success in the virtual card arena, he began to explore joint opportunities with his father. Serge Belamant operated a Smartcard payment business while Philip Belamant ran a mobile payments company.

Deciding to work together, they combined the two technologies. Philip Belamant viewed this collaborative approach as a means to achieve better financial inclusion for PBel’s customer base.

By integrating the two payment technologies, customers could now check their physical card’s balance on their phones or buy and sell services via USD. Although a commonplace practice throughout much of the world, this convenience had long been unavailable to South African customers.

PBel Disrupts the Payday Lending Industry

With their disruptive mindset fully engaged, Philip Belamant and his team turned their attention to South Africa’s payday lending industry. The PBel team sought to provide a better, more affordable product while greatly diminishing the industry’s power and leverage.

Belamant describes the payday lending environment in a few clearly chosen sentences. “Because ultimately, it just seemed predatory. A huge chunk of all of our customers’ money was being billed by payday loans, every time they received either wages or welfare. And so, the single objective was let’s go and see what we could launch to actually remove these providers,” he explains.

To circumvent the payday lending businesses, PBel’s designers built a product that enabled a customer to meet their basic needs without going into debt. Customers could visit selected food, clothing, or medical retailers while PBel added money to the card to make those purchases.

In turn, PBel paid the retailer on the customer’s behalf for a commission from the retailer. The customer paid the balance in a few timely payments with no added interest. This highly successful product generated over eight million South African customers within six months. The marketplace also saw a dramatic decrease in the number of payday lenders in the months following PBel’s product launch.

As Philip Belamant steers Zilch into the future, the company has significant parallels to his successful South African payment solutions ventures. Belamant’s bold leadership in the “buy now, pay later” industry continues to spur the creation of innovative new products and opportunities.

Originally published at https://www.techtimes.com on April 1, 2022.