Tanzania-based fintech startup NALA has partnered with Pan-African payments company, Cellulant to power payments from the United Kingdom and the United States to Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and Ghana.
Remittances from foreign countries make a large source of external resources in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The remittance service that the NALA-Cellulant collaboration is developing aims to ease cross-border payments by significantly reducing the cost of sending money from the UK and the US into Africa.
NALA’s Chief Operating Officer, Nicolai Eddy said, “Today, Sub-Saharan Africa is the most expensive region to transfer money into.”
He elaborated that this partnership presents a huge opportunity to harness technology to make remittances seamless.
“At NALA, we’ve built a completely digital platform for individuals and businesses based in the UK and US to send money to their friends, family, and employees in Africa. Cellulant is one of the early payment pioneers on the continent, and we chose to partner with them because of their deep expertise in the space and their strong technical capabilities.”
Part of the challenge presented by diaspora remittances is the huge transaction fee which takes a large cut from all remittances done.
In Tanzania, these fees can be as high as 17% while in Kenya it could reach 21% for every $200 sent. The continent continues to encounter increased trade among its countries and even the rest of the world.
NALA has an app that allows Africans living in the UK and the United States to send money to the continent more conveniently. The company currently serves customers in Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, and Ghana and plans are underway to penetrate into Nigerian and Ethiopian markets.
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