In a nation like Pakistan where a large majority of people are living paycheck to paycheck, the need for credit is evident. However, access to it hasn’t always been easy. With customer-centric options lacking, Omair Ansari, our guest on Episode 7 of the Fintech Founders Series dived into how he built a platform that allows employees to have access to their salary in real-time.
In this insightful discussion along with our hosts Ronit Ghose and Gaurav Dhar, Omair underlined how though a massively unbanked nation presents huge opportunities, “Coming in with a fancy product, which you think is going to help the masses, doesn’t do anything”. To create the right product in a primarily cash-driven economy, you need to understand what is a manual pain point that exists in the country that you can digitalise, and then consumer demand will accelerate. Having a collaborative relationship with banks will also create new avenues of growth.
The huge success of Abhi’s salary advance platform comes from the high demand of workers needing funds to cover their expenses and emergencies but without having to wait until the end of the month for their paycheck. By joining this conversation with Omair, you will hear:
🔹 Omair’s founding story and financial inclusion problems in Pakistan
🔹 The booming demand for salary advances
🔹 How does an earned wage access scheme work?
🔹 Fundraising insights
🔹 Why are banks not participating in this opportunity?
As Omair said,
“If at a click of a button you can order a car, if at a click of a button you can order food, why can’t you on a click of a button order your salary today when you’ve worked already.”
Omair Ansari, CEO of Abhi (YC S21)
You can watch the sessions below on Youtube, or listen it on Apple and Spotify Podcasts.
