Low-Cost Cross-Border Payments from the UK and USA into Africa : NALA partners CELLULANT.

NALA, a Fintech company based in Tanzania, has partnered with (www.Cellulant.io), a pan-African payments company, to power remittance payments from the UK and US to Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Ghana.

Apart from Official Direct Assistance(ODA) remittances constitute the second-largest source of external resources for Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2019, approximately $48 billion was sent to Africa, with  Nigeriareceiving approximately 50% of this amount, followed by Ghana and Kenya. Despite a decline in remittance inflows in sub-Saharan Africa in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, countries such as Kenya and Ghana saw an increase in cross-border payments. Remittance inflows to sub-Saharan countries recovered and grew by approximately 6% in 2021.

Transaction fees absorb a large percentage of the billions sent to Africa each year. The cost of sending money to Africa is the highest of any region. Tanzania and Kenya remain the highest with charges of 17% and 21% respectively for every $200 sent. With the increase in intra-African trade between Africa and the rest of the world, the transaction cost is one of the barriers to success in facilitating cross-border payments.

The partnership between Cellulant and NALA aims to facilitate seamless cross-border payments and significantly reduce the cost of sending money from the UK and the US to Africa.

“Today, sub-Saharan Africa is the most expensive region to transfer money,” said NALA COO Nicolai Eddy. “In Tanzania and across the African continent, there is a huge opportunity to harness technology to reduce payment fees and create next-generation banking and payment products. At NALA, we’ve created a fully digital platform for people and businesses based in the UK and the US to send money to their friends, family, and employees in Africa. Cellulant is one of the early payment pioneers on the continent, and we chose to partner with them because of their deep experience in the space and strong technical capabilities.”

Cellulant provides a single  API Payment platform, Tingg (Tingg.africa), which enables global, regional, and local businesses to collect payments online and offline while allowing anyone to pay with their mobile money, and cards local and international, or directly from your bank. The platform powers payments for 220 million consumers on a single inclusive network, enabling interoperability across Africa.

“Cellulant solves a big challenge for companies entering Africa, as they have to deal with 54-55 different payment providers and multiple currencies, with at least one for each country. With our presence in 35 countries, we can cover all these needs.” .through a single platform, a single API, a single contract, a single web tool, and a single point of management for all transactions. This partnership complements Nala’s fully digital cross-border payment capabilities with the necessary infrastructure to enable them to provide effectively serve the continent.” said David Waithaka, Cellulant Chief Revenue Officer.

NALA, a Y-Combinator-backed company, offers an app for Africans living in the UK and US to seamlessly send money to the continent. NALA is currently active in Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, and Ghana and is preparing to join the Nigerian and Ethiopian markets. The company hopes to expand its services in Africa, the United States, and Canada.