Privacy Policy

Personal Information

Both Vodacom Payment Services (Pty) Ltd (“VPS”) and Genfin Finance (Pty) Ltd (“Genfin”) respect and are committed to protecting your personal information. To demonstrate their commitment, VPS and Genfin have created this privacy supplement to communicate their intent to provide effective processes for the appropriate handling of such personal information and to comply with applicable legislation that governs the authentication, protection and disclosure of personal information.

Please note that VPS and Genfin are considered joint responsible parties in terms of the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (“POPIA”).

Any reference to “Genfin” shall include reference to its affiliates, which shall mean any other entity controlling, controlled by or under common control with Genfin, and shall also include a subsidiary of Genfin, the latter meaning a subsidiary as defined in Section 3 of the Companies Act, 2008, as amended.

This Privacy Supplement explains the processing activities of VPS and Genfin when you provide any personal information on the VPS Genfin Funding Application Microsite (www.vodalend.app), in order to potentially offer you business funding. Importantly, it is designed to provide additional contextual information to that already provided by VPS and Genfin in their respective privacy notices/policies. For more information on the VPS privacy notice please click here. For more information on the Genfin privacy policy please click here: https://genfinfinance.co.za/privacy-policy/

By registering and / or providing personal information on the VPS Genfin Funding Application Microsite, you hereby acknowledge the processing activities outlined both herein and within the respective privacy policies / notices mentioned above as they may be applicable.

Please note, the VPS Genfin Funding Application Microsite may contain links to or from other sites (“Linked Sites”), which are not governed by this Privacy Supplement. Accordingly, VPS and/or Genfin are in no way responsible for the content, or the privacy and security practices of the Linked Sites and urge you to familiarise yourself with the policies employed by the Linked Sites.

When, why & how will we process and/or use your personal Information?

Once you choose to interact with VPS and/or Genfin and provide us with your personal information on the VPS Genfin Funding Application Microsite, it will be used for the purposes of providing you with the requested service, products or funding if your application is successful and to assist us to better understand your needs and interest in the future.

You may refuse to supply your personal information, however, there are certain consequences that may naturally flow from such refusal, such as an inability by Genfin to conclude or perform any potential business funding with you.

We will furthermore only process and/or use your personal information in the following circumstances:

to comply with any obligation in an applicable law;
if you have provided us with consent;
if the personal information was made public by you;
if a person who is legally authorised to act on your behalf has provided us with the said consent;
to verify your identity;
to process your application and determine whether your business qualifies for business funding;
for purposes relating to our business;
to provide you with and/or to process, administer and manage any of our products and services;
to communicate with you, respond to customer service requests, and send account update notifications;
to process bank account details to facilitate payments and approved funding;
to perform any obligations under any agreement with you;
when responding to your enquiries and/or complaints;
for statistical or research purposes;
to test, develop and improve our products and services;
to process any payment instructions;
to obtain any personal information from credit bureaus when conducting credit checks or affordability assessments;
to do any necessary reference checks with third parties;
to pursue Genfin’s collection process and/or to commence any legal process in order to collect any payments due and/ or should you be in breach of any agreement;
to detect and prevent fraud, theft, money laundering and other crimes; and
for any other related purposes permitted in law not disclosed above.

Types of information collected and processed

For purposes of this Privacy Statement, “Information” means any personal information relating to you and/or your business. As Genfin provides business funding to juristic persons, it will collect and use your Information, including the Information of any related person i.e., directors, members, shareholders, debtors, creditors, authorised signatories, representatives, agents, spouses, sureties and or any other providers and/or persons related to the juristic person for purposes relevant to your active (or potential) business funding agreement. Should you provide Information regarding any related person, you warrant that related person is aware and has consented to same.

When you register on the VPS Genfin Funding Application Microsite, we may, inter alia, collect the following Information:

business name and registration number;
business information including entity size and business type;
contact information, which includes names, surname, physical address, email address, telephone numbers;
identity numbers;
call recording and chat transcripts data from our online live chat sessions;
demographic information;
photographs that identify you and testimonials;
financial information;
IP address;
credit information; and
any other information that may be provided by you to us or obtained or required by us in relation to the provision of the services to you.

How we collect the Information

We may collect the Information in several ways, including:

directly from you (such as where you provide information to us when you complete an application form or agreement for one of our services, or contact us with a query or request);
business or commercial partners and credit agencies;
from your debtors / service providers;
from any person duly authorised to act on your behalf;
from publicly available sources of information; and
from our records of how you use your products or services.

How & when we will share the Information and with whom

We will share the Information with third parties if you have provided us with the necessary consent to do so. In the latter event, we may inform the relevant third party to contact you directly regarding any other products/services. This may include the processing of the Information for credit reporting purposes. For this purpose, you hereby consent to Genfin requesting and obtaining credit information pertaining to you from a credit agency for concluding any transaction offered by Genfin via the VPS Genfin Funding Application Microsite.

Genfin may disclose the Information to third parties who provide services to us, including organizations and contractors that assist us with the purposes for which we use the Information. These services include:

customer enquiries and support services;
mailing operations, billing and debt-recovery functions;
information technology and network services;
market research;
credit related (credit-worthiness, credit rating, default listing etc.);
insurance providers;
credit bureau;
fraud checking agencies;
persons to whom we have ceded any of our rights and/or delegated our obligations to under any agreement; and
any other providers/services we are required by law to disclose any personal information to.

When & how will Genfin obtain and share your Information from/with credit bureau

Genfin may obtain your Information from credit bureaus under the following circumstances:

if you have provided us with consent;
to verify your personal identity and that of the business;
to obtain a credit report about you and/or your business;
to determine your and/or your business’ credit risk; and
for our credit scorecards used to evaluate your funding application.

Genfin will share your Information with credit bureaus under the following circumstances:

to report payment behaviour on and/or non-compliance with a funding agreement.

Data access, accuracy, amendments, retention and opting out

VPS and Genfin will try to keep the Information accurate. We will provide you with access to the Information as per our respective PAIA Manuals (see VPS’ PAIA Manual here and Genfin’s PAIA Manual here). To protect your privacy and security, when doing so, we will also take reasonable steps to verify your identity. Upon request, we will:

correct the Information that you state is incorrect; or
permit you to “opt out” of further contact (excepting notification of major changes to the service), either on the original site of registration or at any time subsequently, while still allowing basic access to the site; and
remove you and the Information provided electronically from our database, thereby cancelling your registration.

If we are required by law to keep your Information, it will not be deleted upon your request. Note that your request for us to delete your Information may lead to the termination of your business relationship with Genfin as we might not be able to process your agreement and/or conduct any future business with you.

You have the option to opt-out and provide us with your objection to processing your Information. This will have the effect that we will not be able to continue our business relationship with you.

Should you withdraw your consent at any time after providing initial consent, we may still proceed to process your Information, if we are permitted by law to do so.

We may keep your Information for as long as:

we are permitted by law, which shall include for any lawful business practices, even if you no longer have a business relationship with us;
an agreement between yourself and us requires us to keep it;
you have provided your consent for us to keep it;
we are required to keep it for any purpose detailed in this Privacy Supplement; and
we require it for statistical and/or research purposes.

Use of cookies

Certain non-personal information may be collected while you are using the VPS Genfin Funding Application Microsite. This will comprise of data about usage and service operation that is not associated with a specific personal identity. We may collect and use this non- personal information to evaluate how this website is being used.

Most non-personal data may be collected via cookies or other analysis technologies. The VPS Genfin Funding Application Microsite normally uses cookies for data analysis and potential personalization of the website and services offered.

Cookies are alphanumeric identifiers that we transfer to your computer’s hard drive through your web browser to enable our systems to recognize your browser and to provide features that recognize your account as logged on and other website features. Further, to help us tailor the website to the needs and interests of our users, or for other purposes, we may gather, aggregate, permanently non-personally identifiable information via cookies. Examples include the type of internet browser our users are using, the frequency of visits to our site and which pages our users viewed. We may share these aggregate statistics with others. The use of cookies is standard on the internet and many major web sites use them.

Technologies may vary, but in many cases, may involve a small file stored locally on the computer used to access the VPS Genfin Funding Application Microsite, and may be used to store and collect information relating to your viewing and use of the VPS Genfin Funding Application Microsite. Information collected through cookies is used to create a profile of our users. A profile is stored information we keep on individual users that details their preferences, their use and request history and behavioural activity, and can minimize the need for you to re-enter information.

Most cookies expire after a defined period, or you can delete your cookie file at any time. Most web browser software is initially set up to accept cookies. You can reset your web browser software to refuse cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, some parts of the VPS Genfin Funding Application Microsite will not function properly or may be considerably slower if you refuse cookies. For example, without cookies, you will not be able to set personalized preferences, and/or may have difficulty completing transactions.

Genfin may collect your computer’s IP (“Internet Protocol”) address and domain name address, the identity of your internet service or access provider, the type of web browsing software you use, your computers operating system, the URL of the web page from which you came to visit the VPS Genfin Funding Application Microsite and the language you selected for your web browsing software (collectively referred to herein as clickstream data). Genfin will use these technologies to identify the users, to help diagnose problems with the server, and to administer the VPS Genfin Funding Application Microsite and the services offered thereon.

Security

VPS and Genfin undertake to take all reasonable measures to protect the Information you provide us. These measures include, but are not limited to, preventing unauthorised access or disclosure, maintaining data accuracy, and ensuring the appropriate use of the Information. VPS and Genfin have in place reasonable physical and managerial procedures to safeguard the Information we collect.

As the internet is not a secure medium of communication, VPS/Genfin cannot guarantee the security of any of the Information you input on the VPS Genfin Funding Application Microsite or send to VPS/Genfin via the internet. VPS and Genfin are not, and will not be, responsible for any damages you or others may suffer because of the loss of confidentiality of any of the Information.

If the Information about you is inadvertently leaked or VPS or Genfin’s security has been unlawfully breached by any unauthorized party, VPS or Genfin shall immediately identify the relevant users who may be affected by the security breach and shall contact them at their last known email address or contact details or by the quickest means possible.

VPS and Genfin shall provide sufficient information to you to allow you to take the necessary protective measures against the potential consequences of the compromise or shall advise you of the steps to be taken by you and the possible consequences that may ensure from the breach for you.

Changes to this Policy

VPS and Genfin may amend the provisions of this Privacy Supplement to comply with any changes in the law, and/or pursuant to any changes to its information processing activities or privacy practices. Such amendments will be published on the VPS Genfin Funding Application Microsite and will become operable from the date of such publication.

How to Lodge a Complaint

If you want to contact us about any of your rights or should you believe that we have used your Information contrary to applicable law, you undertake to first attempt to resolve any concerns with our Customer Services team at fundingsupport@vodalend.app

If you are not satisfied with such process, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator at: The Information Regulator (South Africa)

JD House
27 Stiemens Street
Braamfontein
Johannesburg
2001
Email: POPIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za

Law and jurisdiction

This Privacy Supplement is governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa and without regard to the conflict of laws principle. You agree that any cause of action that may arise under this Privacy Supplement shall be commenced and be heard in the appropriate court in South Africa. You agree to submit to the personal and exclusive jurisdiction of the courts located within South Africa.

Acceptance of policy

By registering and/or providing any personal information and by utilising, accessing and using the VPS Genfin Funding Application Microsite, you hereby acknowledge that VPS and/or Genfin may process such information as outlined in this document above. If you do not consent, you should stop accessing and/or using the VPS Genfin Funding Application Microsite immediately.