By Elvis Omondi,
NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 17 — A Kenyan fintech company Waya Pay has launched in the United States in a bid to offer seamless remittances by the Diaspora community.
Waya Pay’s launch in Washington DC on Friday was graced by Amb Lazarus Amayo, Kenya’s Ambassador to the United States, who said the firm had secure the necessary regulatory approval in the country.
The platform which seeks to facilitates transfer of money across borders was pioneered by Dr David Wachira and Hempstone Maroria, both Kenyans living abroad.
Waya Pay’s website indicates the fintech aims to improve financial inclusion among immigrants who are hitherto underserved by conventional banking and finance platforms.
“Wayapay’s goal is to provide unlimited financial access and opportunities to everyone, especially those that are underserved, overlooked, and misunderstood by the traditional banking systems globally, with an initial focus on people living and working outside their home countries,” the firm’s website reads in part.
Recipients of funds will be able to withdraw their money from any bank in Kenya and also Safaricom’s mobile money transfer platform M-PESA.
Maroria, the company’s founder, termed Waya Pay as a cheaper and faster option to remit funds from abroad compared to banks.
“We invite you to join us on a march to freedom from high fees, complexities, inefficiencies, and the difficulties immigrants face when accessing banking and other financial services and, most notably, when sending Money back home,” he said.
Remittances from the Diaspora community form one of Kenya’s most significant foreign exchange contributors with a recent weekly report by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) estimating remittances in August at USD310.5 Million.
For the year ending August, remittances totaled 3.9 billion dollars.
CBK’s Diaspora Remittance Report also indicated the lion’s share of money remitted to the country comes from Kenyans in the United States having accounted for 22.5 per cent of total remittance in 202.
