A 23-year-old programmer Nohaata Seven has become one of the people in the country who are revolutionising the e-commerce through his innovation of PayChangu.
PayChangu is a digital payment system which has been designed by Nohaata and it was certified this year by the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) to operate as legitimate system.
Basically, PayChangu.com is a digital system which centralises your cashflow by unifying digital payments systems such as Mpamba, Airtel Money, MasterCard and Visas into a seamless account.
And it provides effective and efficient payment solutions for both local and international markets.
Nohaata serves as Chief Technical Officer at PayChangu and he said the system was designed to improve the country’s e-commerce by facilitating speed business transactions as regards to making payments.
“PayChangu is a special user-friendly tool which helps businesses and individuals to accept online payments securely. It unifies all digital payments systems such as Mpamba, Airtel Money, and Visa cards to allow people pay for goods and services both online and offline.
This innovation was developed to help businesses thrive and improve people’s lives by simplifying operations which improves efficiency,” said Nohaata.
Asked about the difference of PayChangu from other digital payment solutions like mobile money, he said: “PayChangu is unique in the sense that it allows people and businesses such as websites to get paid when they access a service or buy products from anywhere online whereas mobile money generally refers to a service where users/people can use to store and transfer money using their phones. Usually, mobile money is linked to a mobile network.”
According to Nohaata, one has to open an account on PayChangu.com in order to use the e-commerce facility.
Apart from designing the PayChangu, Nohaata is also a programmer behind popular platforms like mikozichat.com (a social media app), and onesimusmuzik.com, sonyezo.com, quickBooks.co.mw, just to mention but a few.
“I also develop apps to help local businesses such as music to thrive. You know, digital economy is the way to go now. So I urge young entrepreneurs to embrace technology in order to to maximise results,” said Nohaata.
PayChangu also helps Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) process donor funds.
One interesting thing about Nohaata is that he has never attended any college in order to attain programming skills and knowledge.
But he has been invited by well-known colleges such as University of Malawi (formerly Chancellor College) and Malawi University of Business and And Applied Sciences (MUBAS) to inspire students.
“I have never been in the corridors of any college or university to study programming or Information Technology. I am where I am today because of passion. I started coding at the age of 13 when my mum bought me a smartphone.
“My interest started by observing music related websites and apps. I was wondering how artists and business owners were able to monetise these platforms. Then later on I began to watch tutorials on YouTube.”
Nohaata said he embraced programming as a full time job (entrepreneurship venture) at the age of 17 when he completed his secondary education and opened his own technology company called FinTech.
“My advice to young people is to embrace their passion and it’s also high time training institutions in the country start nurturing talents. It is important for to turn their passion into money by creating self-employment,” said Nohaata.
In terms of motivation talks, on October 3 Nohaata was invited to speak at the 2024 CSIS Symposium by MUBAS which was held under the theme, ‘Beyond boundaries: Exploring the Nexus of innovation, academic and Malawi Vision 2063.
On September 19, 2024 he was invited to speak at the University of Malawi ‘s Computing Society (COMSOC) function. And most recently, on October 11, Nohaata was the guest of honour at the National College of Information Technology (NACIT) event held at Crossroads Hotel in Blantyre.
“I was honoured to have been invited by the colleges as a guest of honour to speak to students. It was an incredible experience engaging with the next generation of innovators and future leaders. I am grateful for the opportunity to share insights and inspire others to pursue their passions,” said Nohaata.
Ntchito.com and Mikozi.com are some of the local businesses benefitting from Seven’s services. Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Mikozi Bright Chiligo described Seven as one of the passionate and creative youthful entrepreneur.
He said: “He is such as amazing young man whose passion has inspired him to realise his potential and become an entrepreneur.
“This is the path young people should take in the country in order to contribute towards their economic growth.”
