addition to agents, we have the typical
online channel, where one can go to
the portal and do remittances. We
also have Xopoto, the world’s first
social money transfer App. Customers
who are on social networks can be
connected to do money transfer. The
back-end process remains the same.
What is the proportion of Africa
market to the business?
Mr. Sudhesh Giriyan, COO, Xpress Money
How are you incorporating
technology in the business?
We have partnered with the key
players in mobile money, for instance
Mpesa in Kenya, MTN in Ghana,
Telenor in Pakistan, Globe Telecom
in the Philippines, and Vodafone
Fiji, among others. In these cases,
money goes out of the mobile wallet
directly and the recipient can use it
immediately. This has picked on well
in the last few years. For instance,
if you look at the Kenyans in the
UAE, almost all send money to the
mobile wallet. There is hardly anyone
making a cash payout transaction or to
account. We are seeing a similar trend
in other markets.
We are therefore expanding our
mobile wallet partners. The plan is to
take it to about 25 countries, where
money can be put on the mobile
wallet. On the send side, we have a
partner called Seamless, which has
a platform called SEQR. They are a
Sweden based company. Transactions
generated from the platform can now
be paid out through our network.
We are trying to reach out to Telcos,
especially for the originator side,
where money can originate from the
mobile wallet.
And is technology impacting the
agents’ business?
Technology is providing multi-
channel approach, and customers
now have a wider choice of channels,
providing them with convenience. In
62 MAL 17/17 ISSUE
Africa market is about 10% of
the business. Overall, Nigeria is
the largest at US$21 Billion. The
African market is growing very fast,
registering about 25% to 30% year-
on-year growth. There are a lot of
opportunities, and we are connecting
a lot of new corridors.
Africa is perceived more as an
inbound market (recipient). Do you
have any out-bound flow?
In Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and
North Africa out-bounds are already
taking place. The intra-Africa
corridors are growing. For instance,
Kenya to Uganda and vice versa,
overall money is moving within the
region. We are expecting a good
uptake in the intra-Africa business.
The Southern Africa region is also
growing with out-bound from
South Africa to regional markets/
neighboring cou