Leading a good life amidst the pandemic

The ‘good life’ could mean different things for different people. For Adeola, a salary increase at the beginning of the year was the definition of a good life. By January 2020, 18 months after joining the travel agency she works for, Adeola’s salary was increased by 50%. When the increment hit her account at the end of the month, Adeola couldn’t be happier, the good life couldn’t be better. This continued till April when the pandemic hit Nigeria fully and the Federal Government had to shut down the city, economic activities and travels.

The ban on travels meant little or no business for travel agencies, including Adeola’s. By end of April, her salary was slashed by 63%. With a small family of three, the new salary cut threatened the family’s acquired standards and continued survival. To survive, she had to think of something very fast!

After much research and consultations, she decided to venture into foodstuffs delivery. With just her phone and her contacts across work, school, relatives and friends, she was able to generate orders for raw foodstuffs for delivery. She was able to get store owners with whom she bargained consignment. With the consignment arrangement, she would take the products without payment and pay back after delivery. Quickly, the business picked up, but with growth came a new challenge, she needed more money to accommodate more orders. And she naturally looked forward to May salary to solve that. However, five days to the last day of May, she received a mail from her boss - there would be no May salary, or any other, till business picked up!

All she needed was a fresh injection of another 50,000.00 into her business to keep it going. She had negotiated as many consignment deals as she could get. All her loan requests fell through. She had to ploy back every extra money into the business, while being selective with the orders she was taking. It was a big struggle and it took a bad toll on the business growth.

If Adeola had received that N50,000.00 she could have injected it into her business, taken more orders and made more profit. For her, N50,000.00 would have made a difference for her business and her family. N50,000.00 would have given her and her family the good life.

There are several others like Adeola out there who need just as little as N50,000.00, or even less, to grow, or start, a business. Some need just airtime to share the word that they are open for business. Yes, there are those who need hundreds of thousands and even millions to take off. Whether a few thousands or hundreds of thousands, many businesses and families across Nigeria could do with some funds to alleviate the hardship induced by the pandemic.

Against this realisation, Verve has introduced the Verve GoodLife Consumer Promo to alleviate the hardship on its cardholders and Nigerians in general. Beyond providing convenient, reliable and secure payment solutions for its cardholders, the promo seeks to bring succor to Nigerians and Verve cardholders in particular.

The good life could be getting that perfect dress for the little girl on her birthday. The good life could be getting the extra funds to scale up your business; the good life could mean getting the money to settle that pending bill. Whatever the good life means to you, the Verve Goodlife promo brings it closer home.

Breaking down the mechanics of the Verve Goodlife Consumer Promo, Mike Ogbalu III, Divisional CEO Verve International, reiterated that the Verve Goodlife Promo is the latest initiative, among recent interventions, conceptualized by Verve to reward its cardholders’ loyalty. He explained that the promo is divided into four categories as follows:

Weekly Prize category 1 – 100 winners to win N10,000 cash every week for 12 weeks

Weekly Prize category 2 - 100 winners to win N5,000 airtime every week for 12 weeks

Monthly Prize category - 50 winners to win N50,000 cash every month during the 3 months of the promo

Grand Prize category - 2 winners to win N1,000,000 cash each at the end of the 3 months period of the promo

To qualify for the weekly categories, new and existing cardholders will have to transact with their Verve cards for as many as three times in a week. For the monthly wins, cardholders will have to use their cards 12 times to do any of these: transfer funds, pay bills, recharge airtime, withdraw cash, checkout at stores etc. For the Grand prize of N1 million, cardholders will have to use their cards 36 times for the next 12 weeks across POS terminals, ATMS, Web and agent banking centres.

Considering the COVID-19 prevention protocols, analysts cannot but agree that the Verve

Goodlife promo couldn’t have come at a better time. These are times when we are trying to avoid crowded places. These are times when we are going contactless: reducing contact with persons, surfaces and objects. These are times when most things are better done electronically whether business operations, socializing or payments.

Research has shown that consumers’ payment behavior is changing as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. According to the report, nearly 50% of global shoppers were using digital payments more than before the pandemic, and the majority plans to continue doing so after the virus is contained. With Verve’s bouquet of products, Nigerians are spoilt for choice.

Verve offers an array of products, including the Verve Classic card, which ensures secure payment in 22 Africa countries. The Verve Global card empowers its holders to make seamless payments in over 185 countries including the US, UK, UAE and South Africa, across 20 million platforms, wherever the Discover, Diners Club International, Pulse and Verve logos are displayed.

There are contactless products that include the Verve virtual cards used for online transactions. The Verve Paycode is a 14-digit code generated using bank’s Paycode USSD code to make payments across POS, at Paypoint agents and ATMS. There is the Verve ecash with which cardholders can make payment online. The Verve ewallet creates flexibility for Verve cardholders to manage all their cards from a single platform.

According to analysts, with all these products and a mouthwatering promo as this, the good life couldn’t be more real. With a Verve card in your hands you have the chance of making your dream of a good life a reality, all you have to do is use the card frequently for the next 12 weeks and you could be living your good life, even amidst this pandemic.

And if you don’t have a Verve card already, this is the time to ask for one. The good life beckons!