Kenyan fintech startup myNGOVO has launched a personal finance app that empowers employers to offer salary advances as an employee benefit with no interest charges.
Through the myNGOVO platform, employees are able to request up to 50 per cent of their salaries in advance, with payments received into their mobile money account.
“Income timing does not always match cash flow needs of wage workers, leading to them taking costly debt for their consumption needs,” Methuselah Marava, the startup’s co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) said in explaining the need for such a platform.
“myNGOVO stemmed from me seeing how my sister struggled in paying exorbitant interest charges to loan sharks, because her employer didn’t have working capital to offer her a salary advance. On further research we realised it was a problem for many workers.”
The bootstrapped startup, which is working to raise a seed round of funding, began customer outreach in July and has already seen a positive response. It has already launched with a real estate management company and has firms from the security, hospitality and retail industries on its waiting list.
“We believe we can capture a lot of value from the Kenyan market before expanding to comparable markets in Sub-Saharan Africa,” Marava said.
myNGOVO charges an origination fee on advance payments requested through the platform, and started generating revenues with its initial launch this month.
