Selcom, NALA join hands to make incoming money transfers to Tanzania easy and affordable
Selcom and NALA partner to power inbound remittances from the United Kingdom and United States to Tanzania in real-time to mobile money wallets and bank accounts.
Selcom, Tanzania’s leading payment service provider, announces a strategic partnership with NALA, a UK-based FinTech, that will facilitate the last-mile termination of incoming remittances into Tanzanian mobile wallets and bank accounts instantly in real-time.
Sameer Hirji (LEFT), Executive Director of Selcom and Benjamin Fernandes (RIGHT), Founder and CEO of NALA at the Selcom HQ during a press conference announcing Selcom & NALA’s partnership in Dar es Salaam.
The partnership with Selcom helps put NALA at the forefront of the ever-evolving remittance space both locally and globally. This is owed in part to Selcom's central role in the financial services ecosystem as an essential conduit in the industry, and in part to NALA’s superior product innovation and user experience. With this partnership, NALA users in the UK and USA can now conveniently transfer money to several banks and mobile money wallets in Tanzania from the comfort of their homes, while enhancing the inflow of diaspora capital into Tanzania.
In 2021, Tanzania received $570 million in remittances from its diaspora, up from $400 million in 2020. In 2022, Selcom looks forward to working closely with NALA, the government and other MTOs to grow inflows further for onward investment in sectors such as education, health and agriculture. Meanwhile, NALA continues to advance its mission of growing economic opportunity for Africa by building financial solutions with Africans at the core.
“We are pleased to partner with NALA, an established brand on a mission to increase opportunity on the African continent and for its diaspora around the world. Selcom’s state-of-the-art interoperability engine will be an invaluable and strategic addition to NALA’s community-powered financial solutions. Our partnership will enable NALA’s customers to send money on a transparent and efficient platform, significantly increasing NALA’s customer reach in Tanzania and creating a new delivery channel for the African diaspora to send money back home. This launch will offer unmatched convenience and flexibility to the Tanzanian diaspora across the UK and USA to send money home in real-time. I believe we are a bit late to the remittance services party but there is a lot of opportunity ahead. With the support of the Central Bank and partners such as NALA we look forward to making a noticeable impact.”
Benjamin Fernandes, Founder & CEO of NALA presenting the ‘money transfer’ demo (from UK to Tanzania) to the media personnel at a press conference at Selcom HQ in Dar es Salaam.
“The partnership with Selcom is a signal of our intentions to deepen NALA’s presence in priority markets. As a Tanzanian, it brings me particular pleasure to invest in our country and its diaspora. Africa is the most expensive continent in the world to send money to, and NALA’s ambition is to shift that paradigm by creating financial solutions that Africans deserve. As we expand our product and reach, it becomes even more important to secure second-to-none partners to deliver on this ambition. Selcom’s position as a leading player in financial infrastructure places it at the center of financial innovation on the continent, creating the ingredients for a fruitful partnership. ”
Selcom becomes the right choice for fintechs such as NALA; as Selcom is committed to building a global payment highway that interconnects financial institutions such as banks and mobile wallets seamlessly and with trust. Both companies believe that this pioneering partnership will break ground in the remittance industry in Tanzania and parallelly grow remittance uptake in the country.
About Selcom:
Selcom is a Pan African financial and payment services provider, offering a comprehensive range payment, issuing and acquiring services.
About Nala:
NALA is an African payments company which also has a money transfer app that enables you to make secure and reliable payments from the UK and the United States to Africa in seconds.
They are on a mission to increase economic opportunity on the African continent and its diaspora worldwide. Creating community-powered financial solutions makes it easier to make day-to-day payments and do business in an increasingly global Africa.
Payments in Africa are 1% built. NALA aspires to bring 21st-century payment technology to Africa to create a low-cost and highly reliable set of payment rails that friends, family, and businesses can use. When payments are simple, reliable, and available at the touch of a button, anything is possible.
NALA is a proud African Fintech Startup with a global team serving an international audience. By building payment channels and infrastructure, they enable lightning-fast payments to every corner of the African continent. Their tech is built by world-class engineers from around the world and proud to serve all communities, everyone from bustling cities to peaceful villages. Privileged to partner with these local communities on this journey together.