Ghanaian fintech startup PAL has developed a proprietary payment processing platform that helps financial institutions, banks, global brands and remittance businesses disburse money to different mobile network wallets, in multiple currencies, instantly.
Founded in January 2020 by Dady Maël and Kader Saka, PAL creates its own payment infrastructure for cash-in and cash-out to mobile wallet, without the need for a third party technology component integration.
It offers this service as an open API with a web interface which can be used for inbound remittance, payment, loans and many financial service by government, banks, financial institutions and big brands worldwide to disburse cash in multiple currency instantly at a very low cost to mobile wallets in Africa.
“Many African countries do not have the proper payment infrastructure built to connect unbanked individuals owning mobile wallets to the international financial stream. In some countries where the infrastructure is in place, it is challenging to deal with the telecoms and can take literally three-to- seven months before getting the API,” Maël told Disrupt Africa.
A few startups across Africa are tackling this issue, MFS Africa and Zeepay among them, but Maël says they take the technical integrations from telecom operators and collapse them into one API for businesses. PAL, meanwhile, is building the whole infrastructure.
Bootstrapped to date, the company is nonetheless already operating in Ghana and Benin, and planning expansion into four additional countries – Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger and Senegal – very soon.
“We have seen a huge interest from companies willing to access the Benin market, and have started working with them. Benin has received more than US$200 million in 2017 from other countries, and has seen significant growth in the last two years and the arrival of COVID-19,” Maël said.
PAL, which charges a small percentage fee on every transaction made via its platform, has already connected 80 million mobile wallets to its proprietary payment system, and obtained a mobile money distribution licence.
“We have 11 companies onboard from Benin, Ghana, the US, Nigeria and France, and we have done a total of 50,000 transactions,” Maël said.
