Prior to the present digital era, Africa has been stuck with traditional means of banking. Even with the presence of the banking sector in Africa, a significant percentage of Africa’s population are still unbanked. A statistic by EFInA (Enhancing Financial Innovation & Access) in Sub-Saharan shows that Nigeria, compared to other countries has 40% banked population and 37% unbanked population.
However, many fintechs have driven Africa’s financial inclusion over the years, disrupting the regular way of banking with more seamless means of transaction. Building a bridge between the unbanked and the banked especially in the rural areas, this is however not enough as there are still some areas that are untouched, areas like seamless money remittance.
See also: IFC Launches Accelerator Program to Empower Fintechs in Egypt
According to EFInA’s statistics about 43% of Nigerians remit money abroad with a significant amount of 57% excluded. Nigerian digital payment platform Paga has built a bridge to curtail the stress of travelling distances and standing in long queues to receive money from abroad through its partnership with WorldRemit.
This partnership will not only reduce excessive charges on money transfer outside the shores of Africa but will also strengthen WorldRemit’s presence in Nigeria. Nigerians in diaspora can now send money through the WorldRemit app or website to Paga users in Nigeria, and when received, the recipient can choose to transfer from their Paga wallet to another wallet and even their bank accounts.
WorldRemit said the partnership is a step in the right direction as they hope to leverage on Paga’s presence in Nigeria to deepen Financial inclusion. Tayo Oviosu, CEO and Founder of Paga also said that the partnership with WorldRemit is a further example of their commitment to offer seamless remittance services.
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