Introducing DzalekaPay Beta

Today, we are opening DzalekaPay beta at pay.dzaleka.com.

DzalekaPay gives merchants, freelancers, event organisers, campaign organisers, and community organisations a simple way to create payment links, QR payment pages, storefronts, event tickets, campaign pages, and transaction records from one merchant account.

Customers can pay through supported mobile money options or card checkout where available. Payers do not need a DzalekaPay account.

DzalekaPay is not a bank, mobile-money operator, personal wallet, or remittance service.

What’s Included

The beta includes five core tools.

Links and QR payments let a merchant create a payment request with an amount and description, then share it through WhatsApp, Messenger, email, a printed QR code, or another channel.

Storefronts let sellers list products with prices, descriptions, image URLs, and optional stock counts. A seller can share one store link without building a full ecommerce site.

Events let organisers create an event page, sell tickets, share a link or QR code, and check tickets at the door.

Campaigns support contribution pages for community projects, education needs, emergency support, arts work, and organisation expenses.

Merchant records keep payment attempts, transaction status, balances, and CSV statements in one place.

Access

The beta is open to people in Dzaleka and elsewhere in Malawi.

It is built for:

• shop owners and market vendors
• restaurants and food sellers
• freelancers, tutors, and repair workers
• event organisers
• community organisations
• campaign organisers
• Marketplace sellers and store owners

How It Fits

Dzaleka Online Services already supports local discovery through the Marketplace, store directory, services directory, events calendar, and business guides such as Entrepreneurship and Small Business Resources in Dzaleka.

DzalekaPay adds payment tools for the same activity: selling food, crafts, books, clothing, repair work, tutoring, design services, event tickets, campaign contributions, and other everyday payments.

For a seller already listed on Dzaleka Online Services, DzalekaPay can sit beside the listing as the payment link, QR code, or storefront.

Verification and Limits

DzalekaPay uses refugee-inclusive merchant onboarding. Merchants can use documents such as a Refugee ID Card, Asylum Seeker ID Card, UNHCR Proof of Registration, ration card, Malawi National ID, selfie, or business permit where available. A business permit can help, but it is not the only route to verification.

Merchants can begin collecting payments and withdrawing within tier limits while documents are under review. Completing verification raises account limits.

Current beta limits in the merchant guide are:

• unverified accounts: up to MWK 500,000 per day for collections and MWK 500,000 per day for payouts
• verified accounts: up to MWK 5,000,000 per day for collections and MWK 5,000,000 per day for payouts
• single mobile money payment: up to MWK 1,000,000, depending on mobile network and processor limits

Fees and Settlement

The beta merchant account has no monthly fee, setup fee, or subscription fee. DzalekaPay charges a fee only when a transaction succeeds.

The current collection fee is 5% in total: 3% PayChangu processing and 2% DzalekaPay platform fee. Mobile money withdrawals are 1%, with a minimum of MWK 30 and a maximum of MWK 200.

Successful customer payments first appear as pending, then become available after the T+1 overnight settlement process. Merchants can withdraw settled balances through supported payout options. Auto-Sweep can also send settled balances to a mobile money account overnight once the available balance reaches MWK 3,000.

Beta Feedback

The beta is live and still changing. Features, payment steps, account options, and transaction limits may change during testing.

The team is looking for feedback on whether merchants can:

• create an account
• create and share a payment link or QR code
• open a storefront
• complete a small test payment
• find the transaction afterwards

If something is unclear or does not work as expected, report it through the DzalekaPay Help Centre.

Start Testing

Start with a small transaction. Create a payment link, ask someone to pay through a QR page, open a simple storefront, sell a test ticket, or collect a small campaign contribution.

• Create your DzalekaPay account
• Open the DzalekaPay Help Centre

If you also want to list a product, service, restaurant, or shop on Dzaleka Online Services, use the Marketplace or register a store.