Every Nigerian has to think of BingPay as that financial app that covers every small need that was previously overlooked.
Launched in 2021 by the duo of Innocent Destiny and Wisdom Ezimah, BingPay provides simple, fast, and secured borderless payment services. Bingpay is a Port Harcourt-based fintech company that provides borderless payment services and gift card infrastructure for global merchants.
The firm provides cross-border payment services for a variety of products. Its main goal is to remove domestic and international financial barriers and enhance African consumers’ buying experiences.
BingPay offers a variety of services, including exchanging digital assets, purchasing gift cards from local and international businesses, booking flights and hotels, purchasing mobile airtime and data services, and covering more than 50 countries.
In a chat with Techeconomy, Destiny revealed the difficulties that led to the creation of BingPay.
“Before Bingpay’s launch, I used to buy data from a friend who offered it at a lower cost. To acquire this data, I would frequently call my friend and transfer funds to him. However, there were times when he wasn’t available, leaving me to wait until he came online.
“Additionally, I encountered difficulties when paying bills and making online purchases, as solutions like Opay and Kuda Bank had not yet integrated bill payments and gift card purchases. In these situations, we had to contact a vendor to assist with the transactions. This prompted us to create a comprehensive solution for these problems, allowing all digital payments within a single app and eliminating the need to download multiple applications for various purposes.”
Challenges
Speaking on the challenges, Destiny listed access to finance; access to investment information; access to investors; lack of exposure and regulatory information; challenges with partnerships due to low brand reputation; dealing with fraud cases; and media challenges and PR issues as some of the challenges the team has faced.
“After our initial launch, despite our enthusiasm and programming expertise, we lacked experience in the fintech and business sectors, even launching the product without a CAC license. As we gained traction, our accounts with Flutterwave and Paystack were frozen, requiring us to provide the necessary licenses. Although we obtained and submitted these licenses, Paystack refused to reopen our account, resulting in approximately N40,000 being held there.
“Additionally, we faced issues related to fraud cases and chargebacks, particularly from banks and MTN, due to our airtime-to-cash service.
“Our most significant challenge has been financial constraints, as we have been self-funding and relying on revenue generated from the business, limiting our growth potential. Despite amassing over 12,000 active users, we have not achieved the level of success we envisioned. Partnering and collaborating have also proven challenging, given our limited team size.
“Furthermore, we have struggled with a lack of media and public relations awareness in our region, which has kept us hidden and unnoticed. Additionally, the high marketing costs of Lagos-based media houses and PR agencies have posed financial challenges.
Towards the Future
Innocent Destiny envisions Bingpay becoming the go-to platform for various online payments, including school fees, bill payments, transport, and event ticket purchases, all designed to enhance user convenience from the comfort of their homes. Furthermore, we aim to offer Bingpay as an API to other businesses, including financial institutions, so that they can provide the same services to their customers.
The company has grown quickly since it was established, expanding from two to over 10 workers and processing more than $60k in transactions monthly. The company’s introduction of Africa’s first and only gift card payment gateway, a major advancement in the financial technology sector on the continent, is one of its noteworthy accomplishments.
Bingpay is dedicated to offering dependable and effective prepaid services to its clientele. The company is positioned to have a major impact on the fintech sector, starting from Port Harcourt to the rest of Africa. Its remarkable growth rate and distinctive services sets it apart.
