The One Way CEO: Shakir Ullah, CEO A2Z E-Payments

You hear a lot of buzz about using technology to bring about change, to impact the greater masses and to benefit the larger population. The purpose of technology, as you very well know, is to seamlessly integrate new, more effective and accountable processes into the existing fabric of the common individual’s, everyday lifestyle. Like most other things, if the ‘solution’ is unfamiliar and uncomfortable, it will never be adopted.

“That’s the first rule of developing a solution or product. Apply innovation to fill in a void you know exists in the traditional system,” begins Shakir Ullah, CEO of A2Z E-Payments. “We develop SMS-based, Web-based and Electronic Point of Sale-based solutions and very recently, we have entered into an agreement with the NWFP Province where we have automated the traffic challan system and brought this project to life.”

Based out of Peshawar, Shakir Ullah’s company and visionary leadership brought to life one of the most inspiring projects: an automated Traffic Penalty System for the North West Front Province (NWFP). A test project first inaugurated in March of this year, has integrated a solution to increase the accountability and collection amounts accumulated by the Traffic Police.

Two years ago, the NWFP Government IT Department approached Shakir Ullah’s company under the umbrella of former Government’s  initiative entitled E-Government, whereby they wanted all public sector institution revenues to be collected as e-Payments. “The local IT Department identified only a few problems with the current, manual system. Since there was only one bank which had only a limited number of branches, restricted banking hours and inefficient operations, the public faced issues because they couldn’t file their penalties. Add this to the fact that there was a lot of miscalculation and no accountability because of manual record keeping, we were asked to try and resolve this problem for them.”

The team went to work with only three parameters in hand: fine, penalty and amount. Everything else, was something they created. “We came up with a solution that would form a ticketing system in two parts whereby the frontend was money collection and the backend involved documentation and archiving. In the frontend, we introduced Point Of Sale terminals since merchants know how to use this, reducing the burden of training, and banks were familiar with the equipment.”

As with any sensible solution, the solution that A2Z E-Payments deployed relieves a pain point identified by the organization. “If you don’t document the activity, there is no accountability in the amount of collectables. We generated a system which could not only help to track the activity but also increase the accountability and integrity of Traffic Police.” In the first week when the solution was deployed, there were 9,042 violations across 50 sectors, and Rs.1.194 million collected in a week. And because the numbers are documented, people are able to pay the penalty at any time, anywhere and all the system has to do, is tally the accounts.

“Solution or not, we limit the number of tickets per ticketbook, to 50 because we want the constable to pay attention to the management of traffic rather than get busy issuing tickets to everyone. The tickets must be for someone breaking the law, but it is equally his responsibility to manage and educate the people to abide by the rules.” The solution has an obvious feature which will help to log the times that every incident is punched in through the POS devices by every traffic constable, but the ticket numbers are generated by the system and not the Traffic Police. “To increase the integrity of the system, we must ensure that there is no way for any human to influence or intervene and manipulate ticket information, therefore those numbers are generated automatically and linked to a book number.”

The solution produces reports in English, Urdu and Sector-wise reports. The Sector reports helps with analysis of traffic violations in various areas of the city to help with prevention strategies rather than simply increasing ticket issuances and the authorities have already been able to see the solution at work, integrated with the fabric of their own ecosystem.

But while you wow at the simplicity of the solution, add a little innovation and think about this from the perspective of the future. If you want to have something like branchless banking, you have to have a platform – a platform similar to the one that Shakir Ullah is using for branchless ticketing. “Platforms,” Shakir Ullah explains, “are created from data, which is gathered through various devices. Either we can sit and complain at how much more investment will be needed to acquire this data, or we put the existing equipment to use. These POS units are already deployed. Once a violation is recorded, incidental data will be stored. With a lot of this same data, you will get the ability to perform statistical analysis of trends. You already have this in place. You can build on it.”

Creating the Ecosystem
When A2Z E-Payments was in the tender for this solution, they were in direct competition with giants such as NADRA and EGS and won. Not only did his company know the area, they had the comfort level to own the project as their own.

Technology partners with South Africa’s Holistic Systems, also in India, under the name of Oxigen, A2Z E-Payments has been working on E-Payment solutions for a number of years via GPRS. “One of the biggest misfortunes here is that both the systems began in India and in Pakistan at the same time. In India, there are more than 2 million users and thousands of e-payment retail channels because the banks and the Government was helpful. In Pakistan, we have been lagging behind. After two years of our struggle, we have finally convinced people that e-payment is a better option for the collection of public institutions or even minor collections. The only difference here is that we don’t have the rules, regulations and procedures in place. If rules are made clear and e-payment status is given to firms like us, we can be an alternate collection channel. It might be easier for the State Bank of Pakistan to make us an automated clearing house rather than outsourcing the data to a foreign firm.”  Having said that, he does admit that the Telecom regulator in Pakistan has taken some initiatives in the forward direction though there is still a lot left to be done.

When you are at the bottom end of the pyramid, it is very difficult to survive if you are made to be exclusive with an institution. But the problem is that there is perhaps no other options for the companies working their way up from the low end of the spectrum. “The problem comes when the State Bank issues a guideline stating that either it is going to be a bank-led model or a bank-ventured model but we are not ready nor trust the third-party model. Public sector banks are not necessarily interested in these innovative solutions because they don’t need any consumer money. They meet their targets. Private financial institutions at least strive to serve the general public but they aren’t convinced at the return on the model
itself. It’s up to the market and the regulatory bodies. But cellular companies and banks should not be placing conditions of exclusivity providing they find a private sector service provider that is capable.”

Shakir Ullah talks about the massive trust deficit. “There must be a platform established for e-Payments because that is what might help to make various stakeholders more comfortable in working with another.

“We are somehow, still stuck with paper. There is such a high trust deficit and this same discomfort is transferred to e-payments.” Shakir Ullah quite candidly admits that if you ask him what the future of mobile commerce is in NWFP, he would admit that there is none. “And this is something I have experienced. I have a product called e-Wallet and when we tried to introduce this service to the people, the first thing they would ask is how this documents the transfer of money. Since a mobile phone cannot generate a receipt, this creates a problem for users. Unless there is an increased awareness within the consumer, they will never be able to grasp the concept. Unless we increase the trust, you can invest in all the technology you want, the confidence of the general public will remain shaky.”

Being a small company, we cannot compete with the larger companies, but Shakir Ullah does his bit. “Unfortunately our target markets are the ‘bigger companies’. I have learned that if you want to get their attention, you have to go to them and make use of these large-scale networking opportunities.”

The profile of the Pathan has changed something Shakir Ullah admits is still a view shared by the world around him. “There are a lot of us who have returned to our homeland after having been educated and lived abroad for many years. That has made a huge difference in our own micro economy.” A sentiment so many professionals share about how incorrect projection is promoted through the media, he says, “When I came to Karachi, there was a news ticker running everyday about a great many people killed in my village. When I would worry and call home, my family would be surprised because all was normal there. Of course this causes a great deal of grief to all of us and does more damage than benefit.”

According to Shakir Ullah, a person who believes that there is a solution to every problem we face, “the fear that is created by the media is more dangerous because it creates a difference within Pakistan. It is this fear which keeps us all from coming to the same table and discussing the issues which plague us. I believe,” he continues, “if we all are less distracted by these stories and are able to focus on communicating with one another, we will take a huge step forward as a nation. I believe that if I, as one individual, can prove that things can happen in NWFP, it will open up the way for other companies there. I am just making my way because it is my province and I am proud to have the opportunity to serve my people.”

The price breakdown that Shakir Ullah shares, would make no business sense to an outside firm. His company prints the Challan books, manages the printing of the receipts as part of his cost and add no cost burden on the public. “If it is costing us Rs.10 per ticket, then Rs.5 goes back into the system to develop the ecosystem further. I don’t think anyone else would do any of this at these prices because it wouldn’t make financial sense to them. To me, this is my chance to prove the critical value of technology if we can help the province to increase their revenue collection and make it more efficient. This makes sense to me.”

His biggest learning outcome from the project was how critical it to involve all the stakeholders onto one page. “I had to arrange meetings with everyone from the Transport Unions, Traffic Official, Provincial secretaries and aids as well as the banks. We piloted the project in March and we have had a great deal of success since.”

Shakir Ullah, an entrepreneur based out of Peshawar, doesn’t have the term ‘impossible’ in his dictionary. “Everything is possible. If I had thought of these projects like a private limited company, I would have probably backed out of the project because it requires a lot of work. I don’t think any outside company would be able to manage a project like this because it is simply too much hard work. The decision-maker, or the CEO, of another company, would try and acquire information about trends in NWFP through focus groups or media, neither or which is an adequate representation of the ground realities. I don’t think that unless you really experience the environment that you can really know what it takes. Dedication, commitment and ownership of the project. That is what it takes. If you put it all together and prove the value addition that a solution brings to the lives of people, there is no way to go, but in the forward direction.”

For more details, you can visit the company online at www.a2zepayments.com

DISCUSSION
What do you think of this article? How would you react to the company’s achievements had they not been highlighted here? Do you think that the kind of retoric that Shakir Ullah uses for the Media and the rift it creates between stakeholders and people, is an accurate assessment? What other issues do you think hold back collaborative efforts?