Calgary, Alberta / TheNewswire / December 5, 2016 - NovaTeqni Corporation (“Novateqni” or the "Corporation") (TSXV: NTQ) is pleased to report that the NovaTeqni Farmers Management System (“FMS”) developed for Malawi has gone live.  An average of nearly one and a half thousand farmers are registering daily on the system with a total of more than 55,000 farmers registered to date.

The FMS is operated by the Tobacco Control Commission (“TCC”) which is a Malawi government department funded by international tobacco leaf buyers.  The FMS allows the Malawi government to manage the issuance of licenses to all types of farmers to produce crops.  The system assists with the management of crop production planning to reduce or prevent over production.

With the FMS, each farmer is registered using high quality fingerprint based biometrics.  Ten fingerprints are captured, a photo is taken, and a permanent secure Farmers Identification Card is issued.  The card uses the latest high security contactless technology and is issued on the spot rather than being printed centrally.  Stored on the card are the farmer details as well as a photo and fingerprint biometrics.  Additional detail stored on the card is the information linking the farmer to the seasonal crop licensing allocation for their land.  Under the system each farmer is licensed to farm a specific amount of crop output.   The FMS manages the payments for farming and is interfaced to the crop auctioneers.

The Malawi FMS system is by necessity spread over a number of permanent fixed offices, a number of rural offices, and a temporary rural mobile system.  Since the system needs to operate on a mainly online basis, each service point has at least one distributed server which is fully synchronized with the rest of the servers.  Should a communication disruption occur, the local server will still contain nearly all information needed to continue to transact.  

Tobacco production in Malawi is one of the nation's largest sources of income

Agricultural produce brings in more than 80% of Malawi’s export earnings, with tobacco specifically resulting in more than 50% of Malawi’s agricultural export earnings.  Today Malawi tobacco is found in blends of nearly every cigarette smoked in industrialized nations.

NovaTeqni plans to offer the FMS system to other countries for farming and other sectors starting in 2017.  NovaTeqni has had enquiries from other countries which have a requirement for a similar administration system employing a large number of workers.

Gerhard Mynhardt CEO of Novateqni stated: “The FMS is not at all restricted to the tobacco or farming sectors.   It can be successfully applied in other sectors such as mining and manufacturing.  It is especially effective for government sector management departments who need to manage a large number of workers and employers who have to operate within regulatory frameworks.  It is especially important for sectors where there are potentially hundreds of thousands of self-employed.  Very few current systems in the world fully manage these potentially challenging sectors.   The FMS will be a valuable mechanism to benefit all stake holders: - the worker, the employer and the government department.’

NovaTeqni will use it’s long term experience in payments to add a very cost effective payments module to the system for the Farmers.  The vision is to allow workers to use their cards to automatically open bank accounts allowing earned net income to flow automatically to their bank accounts.  This will open up the possibility of opening up micro financing for these Farmers and provide them with the ability to pay for services and goods using their cards or via linked virtual mobile banking applications.  

For further information, please contact Riaz Sumar, Chief Financial Officer of the Corporation, by email at info@novateqni.com.

Reader Advisory

This press release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. The use of any of the words "expect", "anticipate", "continue", "estimate", "objective", "ongoing", "may", "will", "project", "should", "believe", "plans", "intends" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking information or statements. More particularly and without limitation, this news release contains forward looking statements and information concerning the anticipated rollout of the FMS. The forward-looking statements and information are based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by the Corporation, including expectations and assumptions concerning the business of the Corporation.  Although the Corporation believes that the expectations and assumptions on which such forward-looking statements and information are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward looking statements and information because the Corporation can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct.  By its nature, such forward-looking information is subject to various risks and uncertainties, which could cause the actual results and expectations to differ materially from the anticipated results or expectations expressed.  These risks and uncertainties, include, but are not limited to, the Corporation's expectations and assumptions concerning the business of the Corporation and the ability to roll out the FMS.  Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on this forward-looking information, which is given as of the date hereof, and to not use such forward-looking information for anything other than its intended purpose.  The Corporation undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.

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