OhentPay is helping Nigerians in the diaspora remit money back home

The recent wave of Nigerians relocating out of the country represents the largest emigration out of the country since the end of the civil war, over 50 years ago.

Economic challenges, high cost of living and insecurity have been the major factors driving Nigerians out to move to advanced countries like Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia and others.

According to a recent research by PEW, 45% of Nigeria’s adult population plans to relocate to another country within five years. In the UK immigration report released in 2022, Nigeria is second only to Indians in the number of visas granted for the ‘Skilled Worker – Health & Care’ category with 14% (13,609) of the total. Applications for permanent residency by Nigerians in Canada in 2015 were 4,000. By 2019, the number had climbed to 15,595, an increase of over 214.9%. 

However, emigration rarely means that Africans are completely cut off from their home countries. There are always family members, friends, and loved ones left behind to be taken care of. This often requires Africans in the diaspora to send money back home. However, this has been historically difficult and expensive.

In 2018, Emmanuel Ogbodo launched OhentPay to solve the problem of enabling Nigerians to access global financial services.

The platform helps African migrants (starting with Nigeria) move money back home easily. Hence, they can pay clients, employees, loved ones, and so on, therefore bringing people much closer beyond their borders. 

“We’re expanding to more countries in Africa to open up global opportunities for users in these countries and create a delightful international payment experience for both senders and receivers,” Ogbodo said.    

While building Ohentpay, the founder had three things in mind: Ease, Speed and the best rates. “We’ve built the product to be easy to use for our users,” Ogbodo explained, “such that it solves the problem of moving money easily. Once the transfer is done, the recipients can receive the money as quickly as possible. Also, we enable the user to get the best value for their money for an affordable fee.”

Oluwapelumi David, a customer of OhentPay, dropped a review among thousands of others about the app on the Google Play Store, saying, “OhentPay is one of the Best money transfer apps I have used. They have a straightforward app, also in terms of exchange rate too.”

Another review by Abiodun Adebayo said that “OhentPay is very reliable, very fast, and has an excellent rate with next to nothing fees. No hidden charges, too!”

OhentPay started out serving Nigerians, however it has gradually morphed to include a much larger audience—the rest of Africa. In an exclusive statement to Bendada.com, OhentPay revealed that at the moment, they are focusing on making international payments as accessible as just a couple of taps away. The product is available to send, receive, and exchange money in over 200 countries and 30+ currencies.

The startup is focused on its goal of providing Africans, everywhere, with global financial access. Also, they have a bunch of new features lined up to make this happen and will continue to announce them next year. OhentPay recently launched in Europe to enable Nigerian immigrants in the continent to send money to their loved ones at the best rates.