To mark International Women’s Day, leading online money transfer service WorldRemit and Access Bank celebrate the contribution Nigerian women living and working abroad make to their home country, with new data revealing that the gender gap for sending digital remittances to Nigeria is rapidly closing.
Nigerians living abroad sent home a record $25bn (NGN 9 trillion) in 2018, making Nigeria the largest remittance receiving country in Africa. As remittances continue to grow, women are making an increasing contribution to the country’s development.
New WorldRemit research reveals:
● The proportion of females sending digital money transfers to Nigeria via WorldRemit has grown by 10% within the last five years.
● 37% of WorldRemit’s customers sending to Nigeria are female, compared to 27% in 2014.
The UN estimates that over 46% of Nigerian migrants are female, with the majority living in the United Kingdom and United States of America. Money sent from mothers, sisters and aunts living abroad help millions of families in Nigeria pay for essential needs such as healthcare and education.
Evidence suggests that, although female migrants tend to earn less than their male counterparts, they send a higher proportion of their income home more frequently.
Digital money transfer companies are improving the access that women have to remittances and helping their money go further. WorldRemit enables the Nigerian diaspora to send money home in a few taps from their phones without having to travel to an agent, lowering costs and increasing speed and convenience.
As WorldRemit celebrates International Women’s Day, the company is offering new customers zero fees on their first transfer to Nigeria if they use the code ACCESSBANK when making payment.
Pardon Mujakachi, Country Manager for Nigeria at WorldRemit, says: “Ensuring digital inclusion for financial services for women on both the send and receive side is critically important, as we know that when women thrive, families, businesses and local economies thrive too.
Our data shows that women play an increasingly vital role in Nigeria’s development by sending money home to support education, cover healthcare costs, make investments, and more. At WorldRemit, we’re committed to simplifying that process, and making it faster, cheaper and easier to send and receive remittances.”
Victor Etuokwu, Executive Director, Personal Banking, Access Bank, says: “At Access Bank, we are very passionate about women. Hence, we have products and services that are tailor-made for women because we recognize the importance of their role in the family and the society at large. We have now taken this a step further by partnering with WorldRemit, to ensure that women outside Nigeria can seamlessly remit money to their families or for their businesses back in Nigeria.
As industry leaders in the use of technology to provide financial services, we are delighted that sending and receiving money from anywhere across the world can now be done on our platforms without any glitches, within the shortest possible time.
WorldRemit customers complete over 1.3 million transfers every month from over 50 countries to over 145 destinations. Ts and Cs here: https://www.worldremit.com/iwd
Visit the WorldRemit website for more information on how to send money to Nigeria.
About WorldRemit
WorldRemit is changing the way people send money.
It’s easy – just open the app or visit the website – no more agents.
● Transfers to most countries are instant – send money like an instant message.
● More ways to receive (Mobile Money, bank transfer, cash pickup, and mobile airtime top-up).
● Available in over 50 countries and more than 145+ destinations.
● Backed by Accel Partners and TCV – investors in Facebook, Spotify, Netflix and Slack.
About Access Bank
Access Bank Plc. is a full service commercial Bank operating through a network of 383 branches and service outlets located in major centres across Nigeria, Sub Saharan Africa, and the United Kingdom with representative offices in the UAE,China, Lebanon and India
Listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange in 1998, the Bank serves its various markets through four business segments: Personal, Business, Commercial and Corporate & Investment Banking. The Bank has over 830,000 shareholders including several Nigerian and International Institutional Investors and has enjoyed what is arguably Africa’s most successful banking growth trajectory in the last twelve years ranking amongst Africa’s top banks by total assets and capital.
As part of its continued growth strategy, Access Bank is focused on mainstreaming sustainable business practices into its operations. The Bank strives to deliver sustainable economic growth that is profitable, environmentally responsible and socially relevant.