Technology

SimbaPay scales new heights in digital money transfer

onyancha

Mr Nyasinga Onyancha, the CEO of SimbaPay. PHOTO | FILE

A Kenyan-owned digital money transfer firm, SimbaPay, is taking not only the local but also the international money remittance sector by storm.

The London-based firm, started with the aim of helping out Kenyans living in the diaspora pay bills through M-Pesa, has over the years grown into a full-fledged money transfer firm joining the likes of Western Union and MoneyGram in the market.

Unlike conventional players, SimbaPay strives to make money transfer painless to both the sender and recipient.

The tech firm allows citizens residing in the European Union to send money home instantly through its application.

People with a bank account, debit or credit card use mobile phones or tablets to access the app and transfer money to recipients’ mobile money wallets such as M-Pesa or MTN mobile money or bank account.

The firm does not charge for money transfer.

“We are able to roll out new countries on our platform at a low cost which then allows us to pass on these savings to customers. We can do this due to our technology that allows transactions to be processed at breakneck speed with zero human interaction,” said SimbaPay chief executive officer Nyasinga Onyancha.

The firm’s compliance and onboarding of customers is handled within the app, making it significantly easier for customers to sign up and start sending money to loved ones within minutes.

The firm is now looking to further grow its footprint in Africa after it expanded operations into Ghana and Uganda on Monday.

SimbaPay has a presence in Kenya and Nigeria.

The firm plans to explore more African markets in 2017, with a bias for countries in East and West Africa.

SimbaPay is working on a new function which will allow its users to send money between African countries.

“We will be launching the ability for customers to send money between African countries, for example, from Kenya to Uganda.

‘‘This is a service customers have been requesting as the current process and cost to send funds between African countries is extremely cumbersome and expensive,” said Mr Nyasinga. “We will apply our technical expertise to bring the app to Africans looking to send money to their loved ones in neighbouring countries.”

With Africa’s large unbanked population, SimbaPay hopes to drive financial inclusion through the application while eliminating bureaucracies involved in cross border money transfer.

“By delivering money via existing mobile money wallet services, many recipients who previously could not access formal financial services can now do so,” he said.

The service eliminates tedious processes of traditional money remittance firms, high cost and the need for customers to remember branch codes. The application allows people living in Europe to send bulk cash of up Sh4.5 million home.

Pay bills to vendors

Previously, users were only allowed to send Sh300,000 but in a move meant to protect them from exchange rate fluctuations, the firm raised the single transaction limit in May this year.

Two years after its launch, Mr Nyasinga said, the firm has helped to send almost Sh1 billion to Kenya to date.
Locally, the firm has partnered with a number of financial institutions including KCB, Unaitas, Family Bank, M-Pesa and Co-operative Bank for seamless transfer of cash.

The service still allows people living abroad to pay bills to vendors or buy property directly without the need to go through a family member or a friend.

“What further sets SimbaPay apart from other money transfer services is that the app can do more than just send money directly to mobile money services such as M-Pesa. SimbaPay can also send money to bank accounts in Africa and to pay bill merchants such as schools and utility companies,” said Victor Karanja, head of operations at SimbaPay, during the launch of the service.

Competition in the online money transfer segment has been on the rise with Swedish company Taaj Service entering the market earlier this year.

Taaj Service joined a growing list of mobile money service providers, banks and licensed money transfer firms in the remittance market.

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