For years, the African remittance market has exhibited a low level of competition with only two major money transfer companies controlling 65 per cent of all remittance payout locations. This scenario creates an irony where the people who need help the most (the hardworking immigrants in foreign lands and the families & loved ones back home to whom they send money) benefit the least because of the lack of innovation, anti-competititive practices and high fees offered by the incumbents, who have little stake in seeing the status-quo change or helping the recipients countries develop.
To change the current landscape, Africa and Africans must play a leading role in developing innovative and development-driven remittance transfer methods and products that will reshape the ability of financial services to reach rural areas and provide features that help development of the continent. The role of technology in deepening the marketplace and stimulating competition, in closing the gap between rural remittance recipients and financial services must be embraced. Such technologies include:
• Card, internet or mobile-based transfers
• Expanding payment networks to small-scale merchants
The challenges that lie ahead as technology takes the place of brick-and-mortar establishments must be seen as an opportunity for Africa to usher new services, tieing remittances more tightly to commerce and economic development of the recipients. Remittances can be a tool to grow the economic base of African countries.
At PayLid, we offer our customers, not only the ability to send money to Africa but also the choice to buy variety of items from local merchants who partner with us to deliver products to the recipients. Arrangements like this allow the merchants to grow their addresable market, from a small street corner in Makola market in Accra, to a global, worldwide market that the Internet offers. As the merchants’ market grows so does his need to hire a few more hands; and one merchant at a time, an ecommerce ecosystem is built that has the potential to fuel Africa’s economic growth. We also offer direct to account remittances that makes it unnecessary for recipients to risk their lives to queue up at a bank location everytime they have a remittance to pick up. In addition, Africans abroad can send money to their own personal accounts at local banks for use for persoanl projects or when they visit home, without any third party literarily getting involved in their business.
Join us as we innovate and make it easy for you, our customers, to trade without barrier to, from and within Africa. In the mean time, send money home to help pay those school fees. You would have done your own part; and it does have its reward. Use www.paylid.com.
