Kenyan startup Empower Smart Limited has launched an automated Digital Escrow Supervised Payments app for Dependents. Dubbed “Super Pay” the app aims to give more dignified living to dependents and stress-free living to parents and guardians.
Empower Smart CEO Peter Muraya says the new solution “will greatly improve the quality of life for dependents since guardians can now send them sufficient money as a lump sum and allowing the sender to select how much of that money is to be released daily or monthly by the app and reducing if not eliminating the probability of abuse or impulse spending.” This comes hot on the heels after the start-up launched the first fully automated digital escrow service in the region dubbed Escrow Pay which allows buyers to make advanced locked payments and unlock the funds remotely once the seller delivers a satisfactory product.
A Supervised Payment is a Digital Escrow Payment sent by a guardian to a dependent with the former setting the parameters of funds usage and the app supervising the actual use of the funds by the dependent.
In the case of Super Pay, a parent can send Ksh 9,000 to his child in university, set the daily quota at Ksh 300 and set which date the daily quota begins. The student will on the other hand receive the total Ksh 9,000 locked and the app releases the Ksh 300 daily quota beginning the set date every midnight until the funds are exhausted.
For monthly releases, the funds get automatically released after every 30 days from the set starting date. A guardian can also set on the app the specific tills or accounts the dependent can pay the released amount to. A person can also supervise for themselves a daily quota that the app releases for them ensuring adults can better manage their spending predictably over a set period of time.
‘’For too long, dependents especially those living away from home in universities and colleges have had to suffer many hungry nights after the lump sum money sent to them was spent on clothes or fun. This has led dependents to live undignified lives on campuses while stressing their guardians who have to sometimes resort to borrowing to send them more funds,” noted Peter Muraya. He cites his own tough experience on campus going several days with one meal despite having a Helb loan. “I would receive my Helb in a lump sum and though the money was supposed to last me four months, I would finish it in two weeks by buying clothes and partying all first weekends.”
Sometimes guardians are forced to send small amounts to their dependents in essence transferring the burden of not impulse spending the money themselves. Super pay is freedom at the tap of a button not only as far as children are concerned but also for household spending.
“In my home there is a daily budget which my wife created and to avoid the allocated funds being used for unallocated spending, I send the entire budget to her on super pay and set the agreed daily quota. This means only the daily released amount is available for spending and there is no scenario where I can be ambushed with a claim that funds are over before the month is over,” avers Mr. Muraya.
Empower Smart recently emerged as the Gold Winner at the recently concluded 4th Ecommerce Awards at Banquet Center, Westlands. This is a statement that the eCommerce industry is recognizing the potential of digital escrow to streamline the industry and ensure growth in online transactions. The era of pay on delivery is coming to a much-needed end.
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