Firm Targets 36m Unbanked Nigerians, Launches App
Ugo Aliogo
An Africa- focused fintech firm, PalmPay has expressed its desire to target 36 million unbanked Nigerians as part of commitment to support the financial inclusion drive.
The Global PalmPay, Chief Executive Officer, Greg Reeve, disclosed this recently in Lagos, during the launch of the company’s new an app.
She said the new app would not only reward its users for making payments, but give Nigeria’s excluded population access to secure and easy to use financial services.
Reeve, hinted that the mobile wallet would offer customers a platform to top up funds electronically or via offline access points, with the ability to make and accept individual and merchant payments.
According to Global PalmPay CEO, consumers could access a range of digital services through the PalmPay mobile app, including P2P transfers, airtime and bill payment.
She added that the company was seeking to carve out market share by positioning itself as the payment app that rewards you.
“Our Unique Selling Point ( USP) of offering cash backs and discounts to users has caught on in the price-sensitive Nigerian and Ghanaian markets.
“In Nigeria, PalmPay is offering 10 percent cashback on airtime purchases and bank transfer rates of N10 with free deposits and withdrawals to its mobile wallet. Over a million transactions have been made on the platform within its first two months of pilot operations and the company is now eyeing rapid expansion.
“Recent data by EFInA put Nigeria’s financial inclusion rate at 63.2 percent, meaning that as much as 36.6 million adults still lack access to financial services. Therefore, PalmPay’s strategy to achieve nationwide reach is to offer a platform where both banked and unbanked consumers can access financial services.
“To do this, the company has obtained an Approvalin- Principle to operate as a Mobile Money Operator ( MMO) from the Central Bank of Nigeria. This will allow it to build an agent network to facilitate inperson cash in and cash out to its mobile wallet.
“This ecosystem approach by the Africa Fintech firm is key to help it achieve its goal of becoming the continent’s largest payments platform. We want to provide the best choice and value in the market to consumers so that PalmPay becomes a one- stop financial hub, online and offline.
“Through its partnerships with TECNO mobile and Visa, PalmPay is building out a very reliable payment network that will soon reach millions of users. We also welcome other companies to join forces with us so we can work together to deliver the best choice and value for consumers.”
It was learnt from the event that the company’s announcement included a $ 40 million seed round that was led by smartphone brand Tecno mobile, which it plans to invest to build out its payment infrastructure in Nigeria and other African countries.
The Tecno is also supporting PalmPay with an exclusive pre- install deal, which will see at least 20 million phones come with the app out of the box from next year.
In her remarks, the General Manager of TECNO Mobile, Stephen Ha, said Tecno had helped expand access to smartphones among the Nigerian population, adding that as a brand it was making effort to leverage the infrastructure to further improve people’s lives, “we see a huge growth opportunity in mobile payments and financial services on the continent and are looking forward to working together with the PalmPay team to help shape the future of payments in Africa.”