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WorldRemit, the global money transfer app, announced last month it has introduced its instant money transfer service in Nigeria. Jide Akintunde, Managing Editor, Financial Nigeria magazine, interviewed Dr. Ismail Ahmed, Founder and CEO, WorldRemit, on his company’s creative disruption in the money transfer industry and other matters arising in the global remittance market.  

Jide Akintunde: Congratulations on the recent expansion of WorldRemit’s cash transfer service to Nigeria. How important is the country to the growth outlook of WorldRemit?
 
Ismail Ahmed: Nigeria ranks sixth in the world among the countries receiving the largest amounts of remittances. With more than $20 billion sent to Nigeria every year, this is an enormous opportunity for us, both in terms of growth but also in terms of using new technology to send money.

While cash pickup remains an important means of receiving money, we are already seeing more and more Nigerians in the diaspora starting to use apps like WorldRemit to make money transfer. We will be able to accelerate our growth as people are turning to digital remittance services for a safer and more convenient way to send money.

JA: Services like WorldRemit are now recognized for creative disruption. They basically change the way we have been accessing services. So what innovation does WorldRemit deliver to its clients on the two ends of remittance services?

IA: To my mind, it is unbelievable that somebody would still go out to a convenience store to send money, and then to have somebody on the other side wait three working days before the money arrives. WorldRemit has really changed customer expectations in this area. Today, people can use our award-winning iOS and Android applications and send money at the touch of a button, anytime, anywhere.

For recipients, the vast majority of transfers through WorldRemit are available instantly. In a world where people are constantly connected on the likes of Messenger, Viber, WhatsApp and Skype, they can now also send money like an instant message.

JA: During the 2008 – 2009 Global Financial Crisis, World Bank data depicted remittances to be quite resilient to the crisis. The ongoing economic transition in China, producing weak manufacturing data, has dampened the outlook of global economic growth. Do you see remittances to once again prove to be resilient, and what would that mean for Nigeria?

IA: In Somaliland, where I grew up, remittances have always played a major role as a lifeline for families who were dependent on money sent from friends or relatives working abroad. So even before I was researching remittances as an academic, one of the things that fascinated me most was the counter-cyclical nature of remittances, especially with regards to economic downturns in migrant-sending countries.

Of course, global financial crises and fluctuating exchange rates can impact people’s ability to send money, but they do not fundamentally affect their determination to support friends and family at home. We should generally expect remittances to be less volatile than official aid, international private investment, and other capital flows. More important than projections about global economic output, the number of migrants in the world is set to continue growing. For Nigeria, along with many other countries, that also means that remittances are set to rise in the years to come.

JA: WorldRemit has attracted investment from TCV, the early investor in Facebook, Netflix, Spotify and Dropbox, amongst others; and WorldRemit was named by Deloitte as UK’s fastest-growing technology company for 2015. What is your growth outlook for WorldRemit over the short- to medium-term?

IA: We haven’t even scratched the surface in terms of growth. People are only beginning to discover online money transfer services like WorldRemit; we estimate that around 90% of remittances are still done offline at high-street transfer agents. For us, there is almost all of the global remittances market left to capture as we continue to build a global brand and bring much-needed competition to the traditional money transfer industry.

JA: Would putting “boot on the ground” a fair assessment of your long-term commitment to Nigeria in particular and Africa in general, since none of your regional offices is on the continent yet?

IA: Africa in general and Nigeria in particular are incredibly important markets for us. In terms of having an office, we focus on building partnerships and teaming up with trusted brands and players in the region. We have an international business development team, who are already working with partners in Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa. However, as our growth continues, there is a high likelihood that we will devote even more resources and representatives to important markets like Nigeria.

JA: It would be interesting to know how you persuaded yourself to start the company. What led you to founding WorldRemit?

IA: Prior to setting up WorldRemit, I served as an advisor to the United Nations East Africa Remittance programme. In this role, I worked with traditional money transfer companies, which are struggling to comply with the stringent anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regulations imposed after 9/11.

Around that time, I realised that only a fully digital money transfer service would meet the compliance standards of the future and bring innovation to an otherwise archaic industry. I wanted to set up a service that is not only easy to use, but secure and fully compliant at the same time.


About Ismail Ahmed
Ismail is the Founder and CEO of WorldRemit – the world’s leading online money transfer service. For Ismail, founding WorldRemit was the culmination of 20 years’ experience in the money transfer industry - spanning academic, consulting and in-house roles. Before setting-up his own business, he worked for the United Nations East Africa Remittance Programme, helping money transfer companies comply with tough anti-money laundering rules introduced after the 9/11 attacks.

Ismail has published widely-cited research on the effect of remittances in Somaliland following the country’s civil war.

He holds an MSc and PhD from the University of London and an Executive MBA from London Business School.