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York student develops mobile payment app to be trialled on campus

Posted on 12 November 2019

Current students can get free credit to spend in Nisa.

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Second year York Management School student, Yoyo Chang, has developed a mobile payment app to be trialled in campus supermarket, Nisa.

KodyPay is a mobile payment application that allows payments to be made from one mobile device to another, removing the need for retailers to use card terminals. This will make it cheaper for retailers to process card payments, allowing them to pass the savings on to consumers.

I wouldn’t have been able to do this without the help and support of a lot of people, including the Enterprise team here at York and staff at the University’s Office of Philanthropic Partnerships and Alumni (OPPA) and Research and Enterprise.  They really have been fantastic and have helped me turn my dream into a reality.

- Yoyo Chang

Yoyo told his supervisor in The York Management School, Professor Peter Ball, about the idea and Peter directed Yoyo to further sources of help and support from the University. The Enterprise team within Careers and Placements put him in touch with the University’s Office of Philanthropic Partnerships and Alumni (OPPA), who connected Yoyo with York alumni through their York Profiles & Mentors scheme. York alum, Chris Baker, mentored Yoyo and eventually became part of his business.

Tom Coward, Enterprise Development Officer, said:

“This project is a really exciting student business idea that has been supported by the University. It provides a good opportunity for students to get some free shopping and demonstrates how the University's commercial team are adopting innovative new solutions. Yoyo has benefitted from a range of business support that is open to all students and recent graduates.”

Santander has recognised KodyPay as one of the top 150 University start-ups and shortlisted the project for an entrepreneurship award. Santander, through Santander Universities, provided funding for a Summer Accelerator programme that Yoyo participated in.

Free credit for students

Ahead of a full launch next year, Yoyo is now looking for fellow students to test KodyPay. KodyPay will be offering 2,000 students a small amount of money each to spend at Nisa supermarkets on campus.

Students will need to download the app using their York email address but they won’t be asked for any bank details.

Simply use the app in Nisa to use the credit.

Download the app

Go to www.kodypay.com and press “Get the app”.