Press Releases
Telepin Selected to Power Economic Development and Humanitarian Initiative in Yemen
OTTAWA, Jan. 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - Yemen’s National Wallet Company seeks Canadian fin-tech’s help to launch financial inclusion project.
Yemen is facing the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, according to the United Nations.
For the 24 million people displaced by escalating hostilities, access to humanitarian aid is their only protection against deadly famine. Telepin and ONE, the go-to-market brand by the National Wallet Company (NWC), hope to improve that access and give Yemenis more control over their daily lives.
ONE will soon launch the country’s first mobile money platform, designed to provide cashless e-wallet services to the Yemeni population. In a country where more than 90 percent of the population don’t have a bank account, this platform will give users an alternative to the instability of cash. The GSMA notes the potential impacts of such an initiative in a 2017 report, which explains how mobile money deployments “support financial inclusion, help to build resilience, and most importantly, can better serve displaced populations worldwide.”
The platform, developed by ONE and Telepin, will allow customers to load and withdraw cash, send money to their friends and family, receive salaries, pay bills and most importantly transact with local merchants — all through an innovative platform accessible on both basic mobile devices or smartphones without the need for internet access. The platform’s key partners are Yemen’s largest private companies, who have committed their network of more than 100,000 direct and indirect retailers and distributors in Yemen to support this initiative. Yemen’s 11 major banks also support the initiative and will ensure the widest possible reach across the country, even amongst the most remote communities. This aims to support the financial needs of millions of Yemenis suffering the consequences of this crisis.
As ONE’s CMO Mohamed Hayel Saeed explains, “Working with domestic and international partners, ONE will help bring Yemen’s economy into the 21st century by delivering sustainable, long-term positive outcomes for today’s Yemeni population and for generations to come. We have been working to create an innovative solution to give Yemenis back control over their daily financial activities and to secure their future. We want to reach the last mile and broaden access to financial services to as many of Yemen’s 20 million ‘unbanked’ people as possible.”
Telepin CEO Vincent Kadar is equally optimistic. “The National Wallet Company has built a robust plan to give families reliable financial options in an unreliable world,” he says. “With their vast merchant network and Telepin’s experience developing complex and customized integrations, we’re well on our way towards launching a tool that will have a meaningful and immediate impact on the lives of its users.”
ONE and Telepin expect the mobile e-wallet platform to launch in 2020.
Read more about NWC and its vision for addressing the crisis in Yemen.
About ONE
ONE is the go-to-market brand developed by the National Wallet Company (NWC). ONE is a Yemeni-backed and run business focused on developing a mobile money e-wallet for the Yemeni population, which will support the financial needs of millions of Yemenis suffering the consequences of a humanitarian crisis. ONE’s investors are fintech investment vehicle Murooj Electronic Services, WeNet (the Yemen Financial Services Company), owned by 11 banks operating in Yemen, and a group of private sector firms with a network of more than 100,000 direct and indirect retailers and distributors. ONE seeks to roll out a scaled mobile money platform that has the potential to make a significant and positive impact on daily lives of people in Yemen.
About Telepin
From our headquarters in Ottawa, Canada, we have become a global leader of mobile transaction platforms, serving tier-one operators in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Mobile network operators and financial service providers rely on us to maximize their revenue and deliver innovative mobile applications to customers, whatever their circumstances or location. More than 256 million of those customers are now using our platform, processing over 10 billion transactions to date. www.telepin.com