Msilanga: Making remittances in Africa affordable, accessible

The fintech remittance app is a very competitive line of business with numerous companies, some well-established having invested in it. Charles’s newly established Lipr app has to stand out and find its niche in the industry with Western Union, Moneygram, Nala, and other apps as their competition.

“Our app is not only a diaspora remittance tool, but is an intra-Africa remittance app as well,” he said.

This could be a game changer, while most apps focus on money transfers from outside Africa, primarily the United States and Europe into Tanzania, Charles’ Lipr is committed to boosting intra-Africa e-commerce.

The infrastructure of sending and receiving money between African countries is not well established, it is easier to send and receive money from Europe and America than it is to receive from Nigeria or Ghana.

The discrepancy is making trade between African countries more difficult than it should be and Charles is invested in addressing these challenges.

Charles, a resident of Colorado for the last three years, has completed his MBA at the University of Colorado Business School and ventured into fintech with his partner.

He acknowledges the advantage of having his fintech company based in the United States, and he points out that Tanzania’s business infrastructure has to be improved, mostly the ease of doing business, it is noticeable that Tanzanian startups find it more convenient to set up a base in the neighbouring countries than in Dar es Salaam.

He said that the regulations have to be reduced so that many players can come and contribute to the economy, and in the long run, the government will benefit from these investors and earn more taxes.

Charles points out that financial institutions in Tanzania have to rethink their practices as well, loans are not easily accessible for young investors with their new startups and if one gets the loan, it comes with high interest rates and often drives one into deeper debts.

Having mentors and motivators is a key to sustaining a business, says Charles. With the presence of many of these motivators online, he says you do not even have to meet them, you can follow them online and learn from what they teach. “You can even use YouTube to acquire much knowledge in the field you are in,” he said.

He advises young people with ideas to look at what will make them succeed rather than looking at the obstacles to their dreams, obstacles will distract you, just look at your strength.

“Young people in Tanzania are determined and motivated, that’s a good start, we just need the government to make it attractive for them to get into fintech, they could even provide subsidies, or reduced taxes for some time,” he said.

The ecosystem of entrepreneurship in Tanzania has to be improved for the young people to get attracted to self-employment as is evident in some countries.

Charles urges African countries to increase collaboration with each other, doing business within Africa is more difficult than doing it with western countries, an impediment that should be abolished, the rules and regulations only serve to dwarf African development.

“If you look at remittance services, the infrastructure to send and receive money between African countries is so poor, and Lipr will bridge that gap” he added.

Charles believes it’s neo-colonialism, he said if you look at Europe, it’s a border-free continent, their countries have free movements of people and goods but we do not see that in Africa.

He is optimistic that the African Union established “The African Continental Free Trade Area” (AfCFTA) that aims to create the world’s largest free trade area, uniting more than 1 billion people with the $2.5 trillion economic bloc will eventually trickle down to small scale traders and investors who are mostly young people.

As a young investor, Charles has complete faith that the Lipr remittance app is a game changer, he said Lipr has P2P payments that is Peer-to-peer payments, transactions between two individuals, and B2B which are transactions between businesses.

“If a business is in Nigeria and they want to pay a business in Tanzania, they can do that through our app” he explained.

This is no small feat, for a young Tanzanian to be able to be innovative on a global scale, the Lipr app is registered in the United States, but Charles says it is proudly East African and he aims to serve his people more, and hopes the app will make African remittances more affordable and accessible to support economic development.

She urges more Tanzanian youth to take full advantage of access to the internet, and use it to network, and build business relationships but also get involved in the growing online jobs that are readily available, he said many American companies offer these online jobs to people across the world and Tanzanians should see this as another opportunity to earn a living through the use of just a computer and access to the internet.

Charles participates in numerous conferences where he gets to speak with young people and share his knowledge, and on social media he has many videos teaching youth about fintech and business. A man with a heart to give back, Charles founded Hatima Africa, a non-profit organisation committed to fostering positive change through education and community development.

He is well deserving of the nomination in the upcoming Diaspora awards in the ‘Under 30 Trailblazer’ the category recognises individuals under 30 years for what they have achieved and the impact they have had in the community and their profession. The awards will be held in Austin, Texas, on September 26 to 29.