Many companies have been founded recently that provides the service of online money transfer. In this digital era, people are eventually becoming cashless thus depending on more on the wire transfer. Today, if we go for buying a cup of coffee we prefer paying through any application or simply swipe our card. Nobody wants to take the headache of counting cash anymore. But, apart from how our day-to-day dependence on electronic money transfer is growing deeper, international money transfer is also very important. When a migrant or a worker on foreign land sends money back to his native land it is called remittance money. Previously, the workers had to face a lot of trouble sending money back to his country. In 2010, a start-up called WorldRemit was founded to provide international remittance services.
Ismail Ahmed, one of the founders of WorldRemit faced many problems to send money back to his native land, Somalia. So, he came up with this thoughtful idea which would especially help work migrants. Apart from Ismail, the other two founders of WorldRemit are Catherine Wines and Richard Igoe. Currently, Breon Corcoran is the CEO of the company. The headquarters of WorldRemit is based on London.
About the Founders of WorldRemit
Ismail received a prestigious scholarship that allowed him to study economics at the University of London. He was smuggled to the UK as a refugee after the Somali Civil War. He needed to send back money to his family which was very costly and time-consuming. He worked with the United Nations Development Programme and later went to the London School of Business for acquired his MBA. After graduating, he created a mobile app, WorldRemit, to make money transfer easier and affordable. Last year in October, Ismail appeared in Powerlist 2020.
Catherine Wines is one of the most powerful women in financial technology. She started as an Audit Manager in KPMG in 1989 and within ten years she became the Finance Director of City of Westminster College. She worked in many companies like Emile Woolf International, Universe Group plc, Prime Time Services, etc. Currently, she is the Director of WorldRemit.
Richard acquired a bachelor’s degree in economics from Exeter University. He worked at Dell and has more than 20 years of working experience in business and technology. Richard is the Head of Integrations at WorldRemit.
Story behind WorldRemit
When Ismail came to the UK he worked part-time and arranged money for his family. Since he was an economics student the trouble for money transfer bothered him more than others and he wanted to come up with a viable solution. So, he carried on his further research in remittances at the University of Sussex. Ismail had a very clear idea about all the problems faced in the area of remittance services since he was a part of it. This problem led him to think about a fully digitized solution for money transfer.
He built a mobile app, WorldRemit to make money transfer easier and faster. With time it has come in partnership with many payment companies to make the entire process smoother. The remittance service with the help of WorldRemit has benefited many African countries and currently, the app is used in 47 countries of Africa.
Funding and expansion
WorldRemit represents one of the biggest networks for online money transfer on an international level. The company has come in partnership with M-Pesa in Kenya, MTN in Africa and Asia, and bKash in Bangladesh to meet customer requirements on a global level. Today, WorldRemit can remit money to around 115 countries around the world through mostly famous in Africa. But, some of the African countries where WorldRemit’s service is not provided are Sudan, South Sudan, Libya, Eritrea, Algeria, and Eswatini.
Some of the major investors of the company are Accel Partners, Technology Crossover Ventures, LeapFrog Investments, etc. Last year, it raised $175 million in Series D funding.
Why go cashless?
When the company was established it was fully cashless from the sender’s side. But, the receiver had plenty of options like cash collection, mobile money, bank deposit, etc. The company is trying to make the entire process 100% cashless because of the chances of corruption decrease with mobile money. Previously, when WorldRemit was founded, the company witnessed more than 90% transaction in cash. But, with time digital transactions have been preferred by customers to seek more transparency. Moreover, now with the power of AI and transaction history, the pattern of a profile can be determined. So, any transaction off the track can be immediately notified to the owner of the account, and then necessary steps can be taken.
Annasha Dey is an NIT student, who apart from studying engineering is also a content writer. She has a great interest in photography, writing, reading novels, and travelling as well. She is a foodie who loves socializing and hanging out with her friends. She is also a trained Kathak dancer and a big fashion enthusiast. Dey also loves watching TV series, which includes F.R.I.E.N.D.S. and Big Bang Theory. To be a better writer she prefers to read more