Financial technology start up initiative launched in The Gambia
Author :
Awa Jagne
Knowledge Management and Comms Specialist
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Financial Inclusion brings together innovators, industry leaders, and digital experts to further understand key issues faced in reaching the global unbanked and underbanked. In The Gambia, there is limited access to digital financial services for women and youths.
To bridge this gap, UNCDF launched an initiative which provides financial and technical assistance to Fintechs to test out and scale innovations to provide digital financial services (DFS) to the underserved 700,000 Gambian youths.
Ping, a UK based financial technology start-up, was one of the FinTechs selected to develop a simple mobile wallet that enables remittance customers to store, send and receive money. The 6-month pilot commencing in June 2022 will be under the umbrella of the Jobs, Skills and Finance for Women and Youth in The Gambia (JSF) programme, funded by the European Union.
“Investing in technological advancements offered by key financial institutions such as Ping, will augment access to financial services at the fingertips of Gambian youth and women,” said Head of Cooperation, Delegation of the European Union in The Gambia, Mr Stephane Meert- “leveraging this phenomenon will contribute to digital markets, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The Ping Wallet will offer free cash-outs to incentivize its usage in The Gambia. With various services such as Mobile payments, Merchant payments, BillPay and Airtime recharge, Remittances, Government payments and Mobile banking, the Ping Wallet initiative will stream through three subscription plans (Free, Basic, Premium), with limited fees on transaction and commission on airtime. All these features would provide easy access to the diaspora to share remittances which are estimated to be 63 per cent of the Gambian GDP– being a critical driver of productive/economic activities in the country.
Given that 69 per cent of the Gambians are unbanked or underbanked – this segment lacks the means to safely and conveniently store, send and receive money affordably. Ping in collaboration with UNCDF would enable digital financial footprints to make the users more attractive to financial service providers for a suite of other financial services and create access to new jobs for youth and women.
Ping was founded by Gambian migrants and headquartered in Cambridge, UK. The company operates with a vision of “payments for everyone”. It aims to promote financial inclusion and economic empowerment for Africans on and off the continent by offering a service designed for and with the migrant customer in mind.
In 2022, Ping kicked off its Gambia operations by opening headquarters at the Standard Chartered House by the traffic light on Kairaba Avenue. This will serve as a base for wallet operations and remittance pay-outs. As a result of the project, Ping has been able to increase the size of its team to 9 employees, 5 of which are based in The Gambia.
Ping has formally signed agreements with several bureaus and banks to facilitate remittance pay-outs and wallet cash-ins, and cash-out. Currently, this number stands at 132 locations across the length and breadth of The Gambia. Between June and December 2022, Ping aims to have more than 500 locations where users will be able to receive remittances and cash-in/cash-out.
As part of the Ping Wallet initiative, the partnership network will include partnerships with AfriMoney, QMoney and other banks.
Ping founder, Eliman Jallow, stated,
“For mobile money to take off, we believe that collaborations are crucial, starting with interoperability between all the mobile money operators, banks, and FinTechs. Users should be given the flexibility of using services without worrying about fees, transaction times and security.” He also added that “Working with UNCDF has fast-tracked Ping’s product delivery, not only because of the funding support but also because of the technical assistance provided by UNCDF”.
By the end of the project, the partner will have developed a minimal viable product that enables Gambians to receive remittances and use Ping to access a simple mobile wallet that allows them to store, send, and receive money safely and conveniently.
