How Opay improves consumers’ lives with fintech
With increasing smartphone penetration and a focused regulatory effort to accelerate financial inclusion and cashless payments in Africa’s most populous region, Opay – the fastest African startup to cross the $1 billion valuation mark, continues to create the perfect recipe for a booming fintech sector in the country .
Africa’s largest economy with a population of over 200 million with 35 percent of the population economically excluded. This provides significant opportunities for fintech across the consumer spectrum, particularly within small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Other affluent segments and, increasingly, the mass market segment are not left out either.
To provide solutions to digitally savvy, middle-aged and young affluent individuals who experience poor user experience on products and find the added value of using financial products overwhelming, OPay launched its OPay app three years ago and has registered tremendous success with over 17 million customers in Nigeria.
The OPay app competes in the mass and urban youth market where key competitors are banks and new digital MFBs.
Also, in less than three years, OPay has gone from a popular commercial motorcycle startup in Lagos, Nigeria to a $2 billion finance company.
In the second half of 2021, OPay’s valuation came after it raised $400 million from a round led by SoftBank, the Japanese investment firm, with Sequoia Capital China and five other major firms. No startup in Africa has raised this much in one round apart from Flutterwave which achieved a valuation of $1 billion in the first quarter of 2021, after raising $170 million.
Also read: Nigerian fintechs struggle with KYC amid rapid growth
The Nigerian government’s recent policies have significantly affected many fintech companies such as Kuda MFB and Carbon. Following the new policy directive which states that a fee of N50 will be applied to all deposits of N10, 000 and above, Opay’s campaign is focused on communicating the immense benefits of the platform and as the platform of choice for consumers given the current realities of policies that can affect competitors. To drive in
To drive the initiative, OPay intends to promote the campaign with the following products, including OPay Wallet, a secure wallet that allows users to transact, make bill payments and save and invest from their comfort zones; OWealth, a savings product that gives customers at least 15 percent annual interest on savings.
The product allows customer withdrawals at any time without any penalty or withdrawal fees. As part of the benefit, OWealth promises an interest rate of 15 percent per annum on savings with an additional 2 percent as an OPay debit card holder. It is important to note that all OPay products are powered by Blueridge microfinance bank.
In addition, customers get 30 free transfers monthly and OPay customers can deposit money above 10,000 for free. Customers can also use OPay without a data subscription, earning cash back on all transactions, an additional 2 percent interest and a cashback reward on card activation.
According to the brand owners, a mechanism has been put in place to reinforce the security of funds with OPay, licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and insured by the NDIC as well as speedy resolution of customer complaints.
Leveraging new cutting-edge technology to provide services, OPay’s trusted, safe and secure app is built to provide value for money to users, especially the youth. It is also friendly, fun and easy to use by digitally savvy consumers and upwardly mobile professionals who are driven by the latest trends and other lifestyle elements. It is designed to be accessible, aspirational, inclusive, positive and aspirational.
As the financial services industry continues to experience the rise of new technology innovations and process disruptions, OPay will continue to create new avenues for successful business models and improved customer experience.
The OPay app is designed to achieve the transformation of digital services in the fintech space and improve efficiency. Known as a customer-centric brand, OPay App offers a new fintech innovation that enables changes and transformations in the financial technology services landscape.
It is a technological innovation that helps users leverage the execution and customer value associated with payments, lending and deposit services, peer-to-peer (P2P) lending, social media use and other services influenced by fintech innovations.
