CEM REPORT | Fintech startup, Last Mile Financial Services Limited, has launched a payment app that allows companies’ employees to access funds for emergency situations before their salaries are paid.
The app called “Pay Masta” will allow working class Nigerians, access funds and help plan finances and track expenses so that they can live debt-free.
Co-Founder of the company, Gerald Erih, said that the solution was conceived and borne out of a need to assist the working class with financial challenges before their paycheck, adding that the firm was on a mission to rescue working-class Nigerians and by extension, Africans.
“We observed that in Nigeria, about 80 per cent of workers live paycheck to paycheck. So, we developed this solution to enable them not just to have access to the money they have earned anytime they need it, but also to help them plan their finances and track their expenses so that they can live debt-free.”
While speaking at the launch in Lagos, Erih further said, the firm from research, discovered many loan app were making things difficult for people; with hight interest rate which makes the borrower worse off at the end of the month.
The Fintech also disclosed that it has signed up 20 Nigerian companies and their employees are now using the Pay Masta app to access interest-free loans to meet their financial needs pending the payment of their salaries by their employers.
It also noted that 75 other Nigerian companies are being processed to be onboarded on the platform in the shortest further.
The company also said it was working towards closing a new funding round, which would enable it to expand the business across Africa to address the continent’s payment challenges.
Guardian reports that the startup was able to deploy its solution in Nigeria with contributions from angel investors within and outside the country. According to the company, Microsoft also contributed to its success with tool support worth over $300,000.
