LibertyPay Boosts Informal Sector with 150,000 Digital Cards
Nume Ekeghe
LibertyPay, Nigeria’s leading digital payment solution and distribution brand has digitised and formalised thrift collection (popularly called Ajo) and micro-savings with a robust plan to issue over 150,000 digital cards to various customers participating in Ajo groups across Nigeria in the last quarter of 2023.
LibertyPay digitisation of Ajo, an age-long thrift collection and micro-savings system in Nigeria is set to uplift communities, foster financial inclusion, change lives while ensuring a digitized system that is in tune with modernity.
According to Chief Executive Officer of LibertyPay, Igbene Otimeyin, in a statement noted that with the Ajo innovation, the company sees over 150 percent increase in seamless savings collections by traditional thrift collectors from Ajo participants, a more streamlined, accessible and transparent system and a secure financial resilience aimed at transforming the lives of Nigerians.
“Traditional Ajo system have long been a cornerstone of informal micro-savings and thrift collection fostering trust and community cohesion. However, these age-old practices have been in need of a digital makeover to keep pace with the modern world. LibertyPay seizes this opportunity in partnership with industry players to usher in a new era of financial inclusion and empowerment that will not only streamline the savings process but also ensure financial transparency and accountability by all parties,” Otimeyin explained.
He added: “Specifically, we are empowering Ajo collectors with over 1,000 Point of Sale machines simply accessible by dialing *347*180*4#. These devices empower collectors to seamlessly manage contributions and withdrawals, eliminating the need for cumbersome bookkeeping. With these collectors facilitating the transition to digital Ajo, we anticipate a digital thrift collection of N5 billion monthly or an impressive $5.5 million. This colossal shift is set to supercharge the financial inclusion of Nigeria’s informal sector.”
