Locally-founded GustPay, a mobile payments company from Stellenbosch, recently launched a cashless payment method for events that makes use of mobile apps or NFC-enabled wristbands to regulate access control and to facilitate a cashless bar.

The technology was launched in South Africa at the Grim Furdango 2.0 event and saw patrons using the NFC-wristband to get into the event as well as paying for drinks, provided that they had pre-loaded the wristband with funds. Drink were paid for by swiping the wristband, with transactions appearing on an iPad loaded with GustPay’s point-of-sale software. Funds can be allocated to the wristband’s GustPay wallet via credit card or EFT. The apps, which enable the same functionality on a mobile device, have been created for Android, BlackBerry and iOS devices.

One of the company’s founders, Joe Botha, said “It’s a simple, safe and frictionless payment. The concept has been proven with a few major music festivals in Europe over the last summer season. Gust wants to be the first choice for local event companies as the trend grows in South Africa.”

“We set out to build a payment system which we would want to use. It’s very much designed with the user in mind. The point of sale side of Gust will probably only be available in Stellenbosch for the next few months, but it’s a great environment to build and test products like these.”