Finmark Trust estimates that in 2024, three out of every four adults who took loans used the money to pay for essentials. The trend is worse among low-income earners who usually fall into the hands of costly micro-lenders and loan sharks.

TymeBank believes it has found a solution; in partnership with Deel Local Payroll, the bank is introducing Early Wage Access (EWA), a service that allows workers to withdraw part of their salaries before payday. 

Unlike traditional credit, EWA does not saddle employees with interest or repayment obligations. Instead, it lets them access wages they have already earned, reducing their dependence on high-interest loans.

Jarred Deacon, head of Growth at TymeBank ZA, explained the reality employers face. “Corporates spend a lot of their time managing resources, so our teams are inundated with requests from either lending or trying to understand how to manage people’s cash flow. We have many examples where people come through and see how they can access some portion of their money if they have a medical emergency or if they have some type of financial distress. They try their best to really fix that issue.”

EWA has been around for more than a decade. In the United States, over seven million workers used it in 2022, moving about $22 billion in transactions. Major companies such as Walmart and McDonald’s now make it available to staff, and employees increasingly expect the flexibility of drawing wages early.

In South Africa, TymeBank and Paymenow are at the front of this movement, and Deel Local Payroll is providing the cloud technology to make the early wage access process seamless. 

“EWA is a modern fintech product. It uses automation and API integration to streamline the underlying processes, making access easy while taking care of regulatory requirements. By using a cloud-native payroll platform such as ours, financial institutions extend EWA services to businesses and their employees. It’s fast, safe, and keeps overheads low,” said Warren van Wyk, director at Deel Local Payroll.

Concerns about whether workers might misuse the service remain, but so far the evidence suggests otherwise. According to Paymenow, the average worker only withdraws around 10% of their salary ahead of payday. Employers usually set limits, capping withdrawals at between 25% and 30% of earnings.

This level of restraint distinguishes EWA from exploitative credit systems where repayments and hidden charges quickly multiply. More importantly, it provides relief for workers who might otherwise spend hours at work distracted by their financial struggles. In reducing that stress, companies can also gain from improved productivity and employee wellbeing.

For many South Africans, the choice is between an exploitative loan or waiting until payday to cover emergencies. EWA offers a middle ground that gives workers control without trapping them in debt. “It’s amazingly seamless,” Van Wyk added. 

“In some examples, employees can access funds through USSD menus or apps on their phones, and the financial service provider handles most of the due diligence and compliance, not the employer. We’ve often heard that digital innovation can democratise finance for more South Africans. EWA is an excellent example of that promise in action.”

For the average Nigerian, unexpected bills or emergencies can mean sinking into debt, or worse, going without.

At Fundall, a digital financial platform reimagining how people interact with their money, Abisola Aderohunmu stepped in as a Product Manager to lead the development of a critical financial tool, Salary Advance.

Aimed at providing users with early access to earned wages, this feature was built to offer dignity, flexibility, and speed to working Nigerians caught between rising costs and stagnant incomes.

Techeconomy explores how Abisola approached this challenge and built a product that provided not just convenience, but true financial relief.

Understanding the Problem: Living on the Financial Edge

Abisola’s mission was rooted in empathy. She understood firsthand how many Nigerians live paycheck to paycheck, and how just one unexpected event could throw someone into a cycle of borrowing with unfavorable terms.

For many employees, accessing quick cash meant turning to loan sharks or salary lenders with high interest rates and rigid repayment terms.

The need was clear: create a transparent, affordable, and accessible salary advance option that worked with, not against, the realities of Nigerian workers.

Research and Discovery: Listening to Employers and Employees

To build the right solution, Abisola started where it mattered, on the ground, with real people. She engaged with employers and employees across various sectors to uncover their pain points:

• Employees needed fast and seamless access to their earned wages without entering a loan cycle.
• Employers wanted control and oversight of advances issued to their
• Finance teams demanded clarity and automation in reconciling salary

These conversations gave birth to the core product goals: flexibility for users, visibility for employers, and compliance for operations.

Building with Intention: Designing the Core Feature

Abisola and her team got to work defining what salary advance could look like at Fundall. Rather than reinvent the wheel, the product had to integrate tightly with existing payroll systems while remaining simple for users.

She championed the inclusion of several key features:

• Dynamic Salary Tracker – Users could view how much of their salary was accessible for advance in real time.
• Advance Calculator – Allowed users to simulate advance amounts, repayment timelines, and see associated fees upfront.
• Employer Dashboard – Enabled companies to manage eligibility, set limits, and receive automated deduction reports.
• Auto-Deduction Engine – To ensure repayment upon salary disbursement without any manual intervention.

Abisola collaborated closely with the engineering, compliance, and customer support teams to align the solution with both regulatory requirements and the realities of Nigeria’s fintech ecosystem.

Prototyping, Feedback, and Iteration

With a working prototype in hand, Abisola facilitated live testing with a closed group of employers and employees. She ran feedback sessions to gather insights into usability, communication gaps, and pain points in onboarding.

One critical insight? Many users needed education on how salary advance differed from a loan. So, Abisola worked with the marketing team to introduce in-app guides and tooltips that explained how the advance was calculated and repaid, ensuring trust and clarity.

She also introduced fail-safes to protect users, such as limiting the percentage of salary that could be accessed and offering in-app repayment reminders before deductions occurred.

Launch and Early Impact

In just a few months post-launch, the Salary Advance feature had gained traction, especially among SME partners and employees in the tech, hospitality, and education sectors.

• Over 1,500 salary advances were processed in the first
• Users reported a 40% reduction in reliance on payday loans or third-party
• Employers praised the seamless reconciliation tools that integrated into their monthly payroll cycles.

What stood out most was the impact: Abisola had helped build a bridge between financial stress and financial stability, a lifeline in a system that often leaves the average Nigerian behind.

More About Abisola Aderohunmu

Abisola’s journey into product management is one of grit and growth. With a foundation in business and operations, she brings a strong understanding of both user needs and internal feasibility to every product she builds.

Her ability to balance strategy with empathy has made her an emerging voice in Nigeria’s fintech space.

Living and working in Lagos, she has a front-row seat to the economic pressures that many face. Her product choices are shaped by a clear intention: to build tools that create relief, empower users, and spark long-term financial wellbeing.

Beyond her role at Fundall, Abisola is passionate about mentoring young professionals, especially women in tech. Through mentoring circles and hands-on sessions, she’s helping more people enter and thrive in product roles, just as she continues to blaze a trail in hers.

In a country where financial shocks are common and formal credit systems remain limited, the Salary Advance feature stands as a powerful example of how thoughtful product management, led by people like Abisola Aderohunmu, can directly impact lives.

It’s not just about product-market fit; it’s about product-people fit, and Abisola is making it happen, one feature at a time.

The Bank announced this over the weekend through its Group Head, Strategic Brand Management, Mr. Nduneche Ezurike, while intimating the general public about its Valentine Campaign tagged “Valentine Purple Love Season.”

Mr. Ezurike said that “The reward campaign which will run from February 12th to 18th 2022 is another opportunity to show love to our esteemed customers by rewarding their loyalty for banking with us.”

“Valentine is known globally as a season of love and sharing, and as a Bank which puts her customers at the center of everything we do, we deemed it fit to delight them with exciting rewards in commemoration of the Valentine season,” he remarked.

To stand a chance to enjoy the reward, Ezurike said that participants are to write a love letter to their partner using any of the following Polaris Bank keywords (minimum of 5 keywords) in their sentences to form exciting meanings. The words are Rainbow, Campus Plus, Starter, Emerging, Excel, Young Achievers, Salary Advance, Pearl, Save Plus and VULTe.

Additionally, they are to upload a video (30secs) or a photo of the love letter on Instagram and tag @polarisbanklimited; use the hashtag #PolarisPurpleLove; follow Polaris Bank as well as invite friends and family to follow Polaris Bank handle.

The top 43 most liked posts will be selected as winners. The first prize winner will get a cash prize of N250,000 credited to his/her Polaris Bank Account; the first runner up wins N150,000 credited into his/her Polaris Bank Account while the second runner up will get N100,000 and consolation prizes of cash rewards of N50,000 each for 40 other winners.

The criteria for qualifying are as follows:

• Participants must have active Polaris Bank accounts/re-activate dormant accounts or open a new Polaris Bank account.
• Participants must top-up or deposit N10,000.00 into the active, re-activated, or new account.
• Participants to follow and submit entries via Instagram using the hashtag #PolarisPurpleLove.

On Saturday, 19th February 2022, Winners will be announced via the Bank’s Instagram handle.

PolarisBank, adjudged the Digital Bank of the Year, is a future-determining Bank committed to delivering industry-defining products and services to individuals and businesses.