African workers can now borrow money during the month without worrying about interest. Earnipay makes it easy for workers to borrow from their salaries on demand rather than wait until month-end. Thus, the app makes nonsense of an adage which says that “he who goes aborrowing goes asorrowing.”
The salary problem
Consequently, on-demand salary access comes as a huge opportunity in Africa. Over 70% of Africa’s workforce (500 million people) receive salaries every 30 days. Unfortunately, they live paycheck to paycheck. This 30-days pay structure therefore forces 40% of the continent’s workforce to live in a debt cycle. Employees struggle to match their income to their daily expenses and are often short of cash for emergencies.
Thus, African employees know what it means to wait for month-end to receive their paycheck. No matter how urgent their needs are, they have no easy way to access their earnings mid-month. Such situations lead many African employees to patronise loaning platforms. The practice breeds discontent in the workforce as payday approaches. Debt laden workers simply donate their entire package to loan companies and embark on another round of borrowing.
The Earnipay Solution
Earnipay gives employees access to their monthly salary in order to draw from it to meet personal expenses. They do not have to go out to borrow at exorbitant interest rates. This solution is simply on-demand salary access.
How does it work? Earnipay partners with employers and seamlessly integrates with their payroll systems to offer its services. Once connected company employees subsequently track and withdraw their accrued salaries via the Earnipay app.
Earnipay has served outsourcing firms and HR solution providers in Nigeria including Eden Life and Thrive Agric. So far, their employees used the app to access their salary over 1,000 times, since it’s beta operations began in September, 2021.
The future is bright
Earnipay recently closed a Seed round of a hefty $4million. It was led by Canaan with participation from XYZ Ventures, Village Global, Musha Ventures, Ventures Platform, Voltron Capital and Paystack CEO, Shola Akinlade.
With the Seed funding round complete, Earnipay expects to accelerate the development of its technology platform to serve large enterprise employers.
Earnipay officially launched its operations at the start of this year and plans to offer its on-demand salary solution to 200,000 employees by the end of 2022.
Earnipay founder and CEO, Nonso Onwuzulike, sounded very optimistic about the future while speaking on the funding round and the recent launch.
“Financial worries are the leading cause of distractions in the workplace. The monthly pay cycle means employees are often unable to afford daily expenses, cover emergencies or take advantage of immediate financial opportunities.
“As a result, they become exposed to predatory payday loans and get stuck in unending debt cycles with unrealistic payback periods and expensive interest rates.
“Earnipay exists to address this problem and offer an ethical alternative to instant salary access while helping employers improve employee engagement and retention at zero cost to their business.
The future of salary is on-demand, and we’re excited to be pioneering this amazing solution in Africa.”
About the company
Earnipay is a Nigerian financial technology startup. It is providing a way out for African employees and their employers. Thus, Earnipay provides flexible and on-demand salary access to income-earners to improve their financial well-being.
The company does this by leveraging its technology to offer employees the opportunity to access their earned salaries into their personal bank accounts. Interestingly, it does this in real-time and at interest-free rates. Employers are therefore able to have complete oversight and set limits for the percentage of salaries employees can withdraw monthly.
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How to borrow without interest using latest app
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