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APP REVIEW: How fast and safe is running business accounts on Prospa app?

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It is true that more entrepreneurs seek ease in the cause of doing business. Opening a business account to facilitate business transactions can be a bottleneck, for many.

With more digital financial banking ventures springing up, entrepreneurs are having more choices ever than before.

In this review, we look at one new player, Prospa. The firm, through its app, promises to offer entrepreneurs an alternative to traditional banking options. Let’s find out.

The App

APP REVIEW: How fast and safe is running business accounts on Prospa app?

Straight to Google Playstore, I looked up the app. Quick easy, I found it. Anyone familiar with the company’s bloated ‘P‘ logo won’t miss it.

Downloading was also quit easy. I only needed 56MB to run it. For the sake of this review, I downloaded the version 1.2.7 which was released about 20 months ago, precisely March 28, 2020.

From the log, however, the app has only been downloaded about 50,000 times. This is not impressive enough for an app that has been released for more than a year.

Getting started

The preliminary bio data submission can be walk in the park. I breezed through this phase, submitting my details and essential details of business as contained in my CAC certificate.

In fact, some details (such as business address and business category) autofilled just immediately after entering my Business name registration number.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons the team claimed anyone could open a business account in 5 minutes. So, let’s see how true this can be.

Data Verification

This part won’t pass like a breeze. In fact, it could take days if not weeks, for some reasons. A new user without his CAC certificate, TIN and means of identification close by will face an unpredictable delay.

But if you have them like me, you can proceed to scan and upload immediately while you wait for verification from the team.

What you should know

Although, Prospa, like many digital banks, issues account numbers but they only work relying on partnered banks’ infrastructure.

For Prospa, your account is attached to either Wema bank or Readycash. And, you will have to choose during registration a player to host with.

So, if your Prospa account is 1111111, receiving money on it requires you to send the digits while identifying it as either Wema or Readycash, and not Prospa. Is this a problem? Yes? No? Maybe?

Let’s try its features

Considering the 56MB size, I was first startled upon downloading. I am used to smaller sizes for a banking app. Gtbank, Access bank and a host of others are below 30MB. On a fully digital bank, I expected something even smaller.

So, what is the big deal here? And why the surplus mass? I found out that the app has an in-house ecommerce webstore. Quite interesting. Is Prospa building a super app?

With this ecommerce session, entrepreneurs can list their business and products for free. Emphasis on free. Okay, is this a kind of banana business strategy to get users sign up, migrating from existing ecommerce websites? Who knows? Afterall, with Prospa, you can run a business account to ease transactions.

Aside this ecommerce webstore feature, the app also has a load of others business tools to include Invoicing tool, employee management tool, team/community management etc. for entrepreneurs to leverage on without having to pay any extra cost. Sounds like the 56MB size is justified. But how safe is user data?

Like me, you might want to ask, if it happens that a major collapse hits the Prospa technology and server-end, won’t users lose too much, having relied on the app on nearly every bit of its operations?

Exploring the app’s landing page

You have a task bar beneath, featuring Accounts, Payments, Business, Invoice and Cards. Up left, you will find the initials of your business name, clickable. It directs you to your personal profile.

Below this is a customary welcome message that is next to a plate showing your balance and Prospa points. Seems there is a bit of gamification in-built there. Just maybe another marketing strategy.

Read also: APP REVIEW: GTBANK App enables ease of transactions but…

Right above is “Setting” where you have a replete of stuff. From account setting to upgrade and help and support functions.

When you tap “Business,” you get to see where to access teams, orders, suppliers, leads, customers, employees, and so on. We can only justify the 56MB size with all these functions infused. Ordinarily, they can stand out as specialised apps.

Receiving and sending money

To receive money is simple -just as earlier discussed. You simply need to issue your account to anyone doing the transfer, mind you indicating Wema bank or Readycash as the case may be.

To send, you simply hit the Payments option. You can find this between “Accounts” and “Business” on the task bar where you have Invoice and Cards as other available features.

Because I am yet to fund my account, I didn’t get to try it. But this is what I saw: a space to input amount, a space to enter narration, a space to select bank and transaction password.

What about security?

Good security experience, anyone using the app will notice how it requests for PIN nearly every 5 minutes. You can be sure that whenever you misplace your phone, your money is still safe provided your PIN isn’t compromised.

What can be improved?

Providing just two banking options (Wema and Readycash) might not be cool in the current dispensation where many have reservations for a bank to do business with.

Also, the team (community manager) should look into improving its customer relationship and experience, especially in areas of swiftly responding to queries. For most of us, the Google Playstore is our first point of examination for an app.

Currently, there are so many un-attended to queries on it’s review session. These can be complete put-off for many. And, this is not good for this baby brand.

Aside this, the Prospa app is safe, and is a good one for anyone looking to work smart without entering banking halls.

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