Bayfikr, a global fintech company currently incubated at the National Incubation Center, has huge ambitions to challenge existing remittance solutions. With Bayfikr, Pakistanis living abroad will be able to pay utility bills, school fees, hospital bills, and payments to other businesses in Pakistan directly, instantly, and safely, using their foreign account or passport.
Bayfikr was created by two Pakistani expats who were frustrated by the lack of control, inconvenience, unintended delays, and additional legwork needed by Pakistanis living abroad while sending money to their families or other recipients in Pakistan. They realized that none of the existing “cookie cutter” remittance solutions was appropriate for today’s expat Pakistani.
“Pakistanis living in the UAE or the UK must take time out of their busy schedules to physically visit an exchange house or a Pakistani bank to remit funds to their families in Pakistan,” says Bayfikr CEO Rascim Khattak. This remittance is often in cash, which must be received in person by a family member and used for their monthly expenses. If the biller is serviced by that bank, they must first transfer money to a Pakistani bank account via an app, wait for the funds to arrive, then login to that Pakistani bank account and pay a bill or a company. Both cases are indirect, time-consuming, and costly.”
Bayfikr aims to give hardworking Pakistanis living abroad much-needed influence over the money they send home. Instead of sending cash to relatives or depositing money in a local bank account, they would be able to make their mortgage payments with only a few taps, bypassing the need for help from family back home.
Bayfikr is currently working on a special and user-friendly payment app that will connect almost all Pakistani billers and businesses. A user can simply pick the bill they want to pay with their foreign bank account or card via the app, and the payment will be made instantly. The business has strategic partnerships with banks, payment gateways, and enforcement partners in the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, and Pakistan. They also want to extend to other areas of the world in the near future.