FOLOOSI – Future of payments using QR code technology.

merajismeraj July 9, 2019July 10, 2019 #foloosi, cofounder.ae, fintech, middleeast, Sheraa, uae

Foloosi , a Fintech startup from Dubai enables business to get paid using QR code, payment link, payment gateway from the consumers without the need of POS machine.

Money can be collected from the consumers using Foloosi payment link by business owners who don’t own any app/ website.

Team Cofounder.ae interviewed Omar Bin Brek , founder of Foloosi Technologies. Here’s what he had to say

Describe what exactly Foloosi is. Where did the idea come from?

Foloosi, is a UAE Fintech startup facilitating consumer-to-business card payments by enabling the business to display QR code, Payment Link and API integrations for the customer to scan & pay in a tap.

I already had the idea, I had the knowledge of digital payments that took over from other countries like India and all I needed was some re-brainstorming and strategic partnership with a seasoned techie.

When and How did you meet your Co Founder? Tell us more about you two.

My Co-Founder Mohan Paul comes from a tech software background with experience of 10+ years. We met at a local event last year and became fast friends.Initially only semi-serious brainstorming on potential opportunities to work together resulted (after a couple of false starts) in the initial plan for Foloosi.

You did the incubator program with Sheraa. Share with us an experience you had with Sheraa. And how the program was?

Yeah…That experience was good and the program was so informative. I got to understand how to run a start-up since i already failed hard at my own start-up in London, an on-demand delivery business, which lasted for about two years.

Tell us more about how a QR code payment works?

Businessmen can accept payment easily from customers just by generating one QR code. Customers can make payment using Scan & pay option.

A QR code allows retailers to connect their offline store with their online audience. Mobile phone enable retailers to communicate with their customers and QR code provide an interactive way to do so. QR codes could easily take customers to retailers Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.

QR codes are revolutionizing self-checkout. Customers can scan the item QR codes as they shop and can pay within minutes without queuing. QR codes empower consumers with more information and seamless transactions to enhance their in-store experience

Digital payment solution by Foloosi is much faster, convenient, and secure to pay using a QR code

What services does Foloosi provide and how will the customers benefit?

Mobile Recharge

Pay bills for utility services like electricity, water, gas, broadband etc

Book train, bus ,flight tickets, hotel rooms

Purchase movie tickets

Purchase goods offline provided the merchant has installed Foloosi and has provided customers with his phone number of barcode of Foloosi specific to his account

Transfer money to bank account

Never limit payment options

Customers can earn reward points and they can use it for recharge

Where and how does the QR code technology fit in?

QR code technology fits for all kind of business like Restaurants, Grocery, E- commerce industries, freelancers, small businesses etc.

As a QR code-based technology where users link their Mastercard or Visa cards to make payments, which are deducted instantly from their bank card rather than transferring money out of their bank account and fund their wallet to make payments.

How wide is Foloosi available in the market to make payments?

Foloosi will inevitably target a certain segment of the market that hasn’t been touched by any Fintech solution and they are:

Underage kids (guided with secured parental controls)
Students (school, college and university students)

The Events booking section of the app is tremendously great in terms of ease of use to book, pay, confirm attendance and explore local events, and on the other hand, organise events, data list of attendees, receive payments, confirm attendance at door points and many other features that allows for smooth coordinated flow.

Also connect card payment processors, payment gateways, businesses and consumers all under one platform to make possible displaying QR code for the scan to pay.

Since it is a Fintech startup, there is always a security concern. How do you take care of that?

In our system we have integrated International bank standard API Gateway for handling front-end and data security. We are using the best and primary supporter of the payment processing API platform.

In addition to that we regularly indulge in PEN testing by working closely with a reputable security team who keep testing our system for flaws and any indicators to risks of security (data hacking, frauds, phishing attacks, malware, spyware, ransomware etc.).

In any case we do not store any bank card in our data, as we adopt tokenization technology.

Back in 2014, you were working on a project which was shelved.Share some more info regarding that.

We began a project in the UK in 2014, coding and programming a digital payment platform based on NFC technology. Unfortunately Apple decided to restrict third party developer’s use of NFC for its Apple Pay service.

“The realization of this, half way through our development, hit our project hard and our team dispersed, with everyone going back to their normal lives.”

**You are known as the founder of “Foloosi” , but outside the business what is an ordinary day for you like?**

As an ordinary man outside of Foloosi my day will be like Eat, play, Sleep all on Foloosi. Playing Golf and Swimming will be my hobby ever. Once in 2 months visiting to India will be my favourite. Apart from that my all ever talk and 24/7 will be Foloosi.

How is the response been so far? And do you plan on expanding outside UAE?

We have got great response from UAE customers and merchants laterally. Reached our milestone of 250 Businesses on board with 500k AED Transactions.

Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?

We are aspiring to become a proper and real digital bank, structured around the most advanced technologies.

We developed Foloosi technology platform in order to make transactions simple, fast and secure and to reform older method of transaction i.e. cash payments and our technological innovation solves the teething problem of processing payments , says Omar Bin Brek, cofounder Foloosi as he wraps up the interview.