African freelancers feel the bite of frozen Payoneer cards

Mama Money partners Western Union to expand services  in partnership with FLUTTERWAVE 06.07.2020 Hi there, Welcome to TC Daily! In today's digest: African freelancers feel the bite of frozen Payoneer cards, South Africa's Mama Money partners Western Union and Ugandan regulator bars corporates and NGOs from bulk SIM card purchases. Please take a moment to [subscribe]( to our newsletter if this email was forwarded to you. PARTNER CONTENT  Medplus - A wholesale & retail pharmacy that not only sells locally manufactured & imported drugs but also your everyday essentials. Now you can order your COVID-19 essentials & have it delivered to you in [one click](. PAYMENTS [Online freelancers]( use Payoneer to receive payments have had their funds frozen or completely gone, reports WeeTracker. The reason is a fraud fiasco involving German fintech company, Wirecard whose British branch, Wirecard UK issue cards to Payoneer that users can, in turn, use to access their freelance payments. Fraud allegations about the company dates back years prior and after a 2016 report, regulators failed to tighten oversight of the company. About US$2.1 billion is said to be missing from the company's books and has since filed for bankruptcy. Receiving payments in Africa is still a challenge freelancers face often. With companies like PayPal still not fully operative in the continent, alternative fintech solutions and technologies are cropping up to help bridge this gap. Payoneer CEO, Scott Galit in a video message last month said the funds were frozen temporarily by British regulators, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), as soon as Wirecard Germany filed for bankruptcy to protect users funds and they will be able to access their monies in the coming weeks.   FINTECH [South African digital money transfer]( Mama Money has partnered with Western Union to expand its services internationally. The partnership will allow Mama Money customers, typically foreign nationals residing in South Africa, to transfer funds to their loved ones in over 200 countries across the globe through Western Union’s Global Network. When Mama Money launched in 2015, it enabled Zimbabwean nationals in South Africa send money back home and has since expanded to serve nationals of about 50 countries who need to send money back home. Remittances within the continent has increased over the years according to a 2018 white paper from SWIFT. From 16.7% in 2013, nearly 20% of all remittances from Africa end up somewhere within the continent. While trade relations and intra-continental trade in African currencies have fostered this growth, the increasing amount of payments infrastructure and systems have contributed immensely to this growth. Discussions and plans around the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) and a unified currency for sub-regions in the continent will drive the need to develop cross-border payments systems even further and will inform how remittances within the continent changes in the coming years. TELECOMS  [In Uganda,]( the Communications Commission has barred non-governmental organisations, corporates and public organisations from the mass purchase of SIM cards. According to the UCC, these group of companies are failing to comply with the directives laid out for the purchase and registration of these SIM cards aided by operators. Corporate bodies can have unlimited SIM cards registered in their name provided relevant documents have been submitted to the operators.  TECH TALENT  [Venture capital firm Ingressive Capital]( has launched a non-profit Ingressive for Good (I4G) to develop African technology talent. Through a series of programs including micro-scholarships, technical training, talent placement, and community, the non-profit hopes to assist in the training of a million African youths and job placements of 5,000 of them through partnerships.  APPLY  [Applications are open]( July 24 for the FCMB Agritech EPIC PITCH 2020 organised by First City Monument Bank in partnership with Passion Incubator. The pitch event is open to agritech entrepreneurs building solutions in any of these key areas: Processing/Production/Storage, Agricultural Finance, Agricultural Marketing and Supply chain. In addition to funding, the top two startups in the programme will receive mentorship support, access to workspace, market and networks that stimulate innovation, collaboration and business growth.  WHAT WE'RE READING  After seeing substantial uptake in the first few weeks of the lockdown, doctors in the US seem to be abandoning telemedicine tools as movement eases. [This piece takes a look]( at the underlying reasons why this is happening.  TC INSIGHTS In 1997, Valucard, a company formed by a consortium of banks launched Nigeria's first domestic card scheme. That company still exists today as Unified Payments. The country's fintech industry can be traced back to that year. Since then, the Nigerian fintech industry has come of age. From Interswitch's entry in 2002, the introduction of instant payments by the NIBSS in 2011, Paga's commercial launch in 2012, Paystack & Flutterwave in 2016, a bunch of wealth management companies in 2019 and API fintech company, [Okra's launch]( this year. In between, there have been major milestones; one being [the expansion]( of local fintech companies to North America, Central Europe and South East Asia. Our mini-report, Nigeria's Fintech Future traces the journey of the industry, highlights some key players and predictions for the future; some of which is already unfolding. [Download the mini-report here.]( Are you an investor or founder interested in getting access to free and premium TC Insights reports and analysis? [Please fill in this form]( to let us know your interests.    That's all for today, Have a great week. - Kay  Share TC Daily with your friends!    Copyright © 2020 Big Cabal Media, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you signed up on TechCabal.com Our mailing address is: Big Cabal Media 18, Nnobi Street, Animashaun, Surulere, Lagos Surulere 100001 Nigeria Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your [preferences](http://???) or [unsubscribe]( from this list. Sent to: {EMAIL} [Unsubscribe]( Big Cabal Media, 18 Nnobi Street, Surulere 23401, Lagos, Nigeria