Creating a financial ecosystem that was driven to align with the UAE’s strategy to digitise the economy across all segments, Kamel Pay offers end-to-end digital payment services to the 20 million underbanked expat population in the GCC and their families abroad through a fully integrated platform.
The lower socio-economic class/segment of the population usually makes up for the most unbanked segment, explains Ehsan Rehman, CEO and co-founder, Kamel Pay. “This segment is usually cash-driven, and often below the AED5000 income bracket,” he says, so are not prioritised within the financial eco-system.
“Although building trust will be the key to unlocking this barrier, there is a sense of optimism that this adoption will increase through the years with the right kind of solutions, education, and support.”
Jumping the digital trend
According to Rehman, a recent shift in the digital adoption of POS transactions, e-wallets, digital top-ups, and remittances coupled with high smartphone ownership has steered a behavioural shift within this segment into utilising digital solutions that may drive cost savings and convenience.
The current financial landscape is primarily geared towards the banked segment of the population, which Rehman points out is an opportunity to address the needs of the unbanked segment within the population.
“We want to drive focus toward a segment of the population that historically has lacked priority within the ecosystem,” he says. “Together, we have over 100 years’ of collective banking experience, and have raised $5 million in seeding funding to date, with leading investors which include 4DX Ventures and Jam Fund Group (US).”
One-stop corporate disbursement solutions
With a goal to build technology-based solutions that cater to their requirements while helping scale digital payments adoption amongst the segment, Rehman says, “The complexity for businesses arises when it comes to low-wage salaries or salary disbursement amongst the unbanked pool, which includes labourers, contractors, and different service providers.”
Kamel Pay’s unique value position helps businesses negate these challenges while offering a simple and straightforward solution for both the employer’s and employee’s end and is fully integrated with WPS, ensuring a regulated and authorised processing solution.
Current strategies for the cross-border wallet market
With outbound remittances across GCC estimated at more than $135 billion in 2021, the goal of connecting expats from GCC to beneficiaries across Asia in a seamless manner is an ecosystem in itself, he says. “With this tremendous opportunity, it is imperative to provide an end-to-end solution for users at both ends with a seamless, convenient, and cost-saving technological solution,” he says.
Strategic partnership with Ajman Bank and Mastercard
Ajman Bank is Kamel Pay’s strategic sponsoring bank, providing the necessary banking framework to operate and provide a one-stop corporate disbursement solution. “Mastercard is our choice of scheme, with coverage that spans over 40 million touch points across the world that ensures we provide maximum payment coverage and secure solutions to our clients and customers, irrespective of where they are.”
The PayD card and Centiv card
Kamel Pay’s ‘PayD card’, under their payroll and salary processing service, enables businesses to conveniently pass on the responsibility of managing, processing, and reconciliation of salaries to Kamel Pay.
“The PayD card is a physical and app-enabled solution that allows employees to receive their salaries on their Kamel Pay account which can be accessed through our Master prepaid cards and app,” he says, and users have multiple features including POS and e-commerce enabled, tracking of transactions, customer support, and more.
“Our ‘Centiv card’ is a one-stop business expense solution, enabling businesses to manage, track and handle all low-value and petty expenses,” says Rehman, which covers purchasing and back office management, utility bill payments, employee’s and agent’s commission, rewards, and bonuses, and many more. “This solution is supported through a Master prepaid card with a web portal for setting parameters, tracking, and reconciliation, along with our app support.”