Staff Writer
As part of the commitment to be creating opportunities and facilitating development in Africa, WorldRemit, the global digital money transfer service, has announced the launch of its WorldRemit Entrepreneurs Programme in Zimbabwe, as well as in Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya.
Since the outbreak of COVID-19 across Africa, the continent has experienced a significant setback with the businesses of many entrepreneurs taking a hit. These entrepreneurs control the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) landscape that have made significant contributions to the growth of the African economy especially through the creation of jobs.
WorldRemit is kick-starting this significant investment to support and empower these small businesses to grow their businesses.
The programme will commence from November 2020 till the end of January 2021 and will focus on empowering 50 entrepreneurs each, from the four African countries with business booster packs and a digital business training course to help the programme participants develop the required skills to scale and run their businesses successfully.
The training module was developed and will be delivered in partnership with The Nest, a pan-African tech incubation hub reaching entrepreneurs from all sectors, domains and industries across the continent.
WorldRemit has signed Nigerian Music Star Patoranking, as an ambassador for this programme. Patoraking will help to build awareness for the programme and highlight how WorldRemit creates opportunities for Africans in entrepreneurship. Patoranking will promote the partnership with WorldRemit and encourage people to enter the competition which will help to build entrepreneurship across Africa.
Speaking on this partnership, Sharon Karuga Kinyanjui, Managing Director for MEA and Head of East & Central Africa at WorldRemit said: “We believe that entrepreneurs are critical to the growth of our economies, and as a business, we have a responsibility to support them through initiatives like this, especially during these unprecedented times. WorldRemit is a great success today because of the resilience and the support our entrepreneur founders received. We want to see other entrepreneurs experience the same level of success and beyond, because we know that when they do succeed, it has a ripple effect that will see the African continent succeed too.”
To participate, WorldRemit customers from around the world are encouraged to send a minimum of £50 (or its equivalent value in their local currency) to Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya or Zimbabwe between November 2 and December 31, 2020.
Winners will be chosen through a draw to nominate the budding entrepreneurs living in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Zimbabwe. The nominated entrepreneurs will receive the WorldRemit Business Booster pack, as well as access to the digital training course.
WorldRemit is a leading global payments company which disrupted an industry previously dominated by offline legacy players by taking international money transfers online – making them safer, faster and lower-cost.
The company currently sends from 50 to 150 countries, operate in 6 500 money transfer corridors worldwide and employ over 1,100 people globally.
On the sending side WorldRemit is 100 percent digital (cashless), increasing convenience and enhancing security while for those receiving money, the company offers a wide range of options including bank deposit, cash collection, mobile airtime top-up and mobile money.
Backed by Accel, TCV and Leapfrog – WorldRemit’s headquarters are in London, United Kingdom with regional offices in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Africa, Somaliland, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Belgium.
Meanwhile, the Nest is a pan-African tech incubation hub reaching entrepreneurs from all sectors, domains and industries across the continent.
