Kudi AI is putting a human feel to online payments in Nigeria

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February 8, 2017
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3 min read

Editor’s note: This article was repurposed from Consumer, our consumer-focused child platform. Visit consumer.techpoint.ng for more articles like this.

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Growing up, we encountered various difficulties in paying for most utilities as we had to queue in banks to make transfers. These days, there are tons of fintech apps that allow you transfer, pay for utilities like cable subscription, electricity bills and lots more from the comfort of our phones.

Kudi AI is one of such apps, but unlike the many others you might have used or seen, Kudi is trying to change the status quo by putting a human feel to the process.

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Kudi AI has a familiar origin as 'Kudi' means money in the Hausa language. This also translates to its simplicity in service options.

Background

Kudi is a chatbot powered by artificial intelligence (AI) that helps you with your finances just by asking her. Kudi uses an everyday conversational AI system to communicate with you. She helps you transfer money, keep track of your account details, buy airtime, pay recurrent bills such as GOTV, DSTV And PHCN and she also reminds you when some of this bills are due.

When I first came in contact with her, I was a bit skeptical as to what she could do. I had little expectation for the app but here is my experience with Kudi;

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Signing up

Signing up and setting up my account was an easy task. You sign up in various ways by searching for the Kudi bot on your favorite messaging app. I used Facebook and it did not take me more than a minute to finish the process.

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For starters, I tried to renew our office DSTV subscription to get a general feel of Kudi and how she works. She responds to you almost immediately you ask her to do something for you. She exchanges pleasantries at first then she asks you what she can do for you. You obviously tell her what you intend to do, if she can she would let you know, but if she can’t she tells you she can’t.

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Interface and User Experience

The app design and interface is simple and straight to the point as there are no hidden icons or buttons to press. It is more or less like a familiar chatting app with its chatty conversational tone.

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I was expecting something complex but surprised to see a simple interface which to me is one of the selling points. You don’t have to be told what to do. You just “get it” by asking her.

Monetization

On every transaction you are charged ₦100. This is fixed no matter the amount in questions asked. Kudi is working with another indigenous solutions like Paystack for collecting payments.

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Conclusion

This is a tech solution that will make waves because of its simplicity. I am in no doubt we would be seeing more of Kudi in the tech scene.

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One of the many features on Kudi is to remind you on of recurrent utility on a monthly basis and pay them if authorised. Kudi is changing the status quo with the machine learning; her ability to get smarter based on the information given by the user.

Photo Credit: majjed2008 Flickr via Compfight cc

Building interesting stuff at Kudi.
Building interesting stuff at Kudi.
Building interesting stuff at Kudi.

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