International Day of Family Remittances 2022: Advancing Digital and Financial Inclusion
Tulix Team
The International Day of Family Remittances (IDFR), celebrated every year on June 16th, honours the contribution of over 200 million migrants to improving the lives of their 800 million family members back home.
With this event, the United Nations aims to bring greater awareness of the impact that these contributions have on millions of households, communities, countries and entire regions.
We’ve seen this first-hand as, during the pandemic when people lost their jobs and the economy slowed down, Kenyans in the diaspora sent on average KES 6.75 billion weekly in 2020 and increased this to KES 8.11 billion every week in 2021.
The Day also calls upon governments, the private sector and the civil society to find ways to maximize the impact of remittances through individual and/or collective actions.
This year’s IDFR theme is “recovery and resilience through digital and financial Inclusion” and we’re doing our part.
At Tulix, we’ve experienced first-hand the challenges of collecting and distributing money sent home by Kenyans in the diaspora for different purposes.
We also know that 74% of Africans abroad are willing to increase the amounts they send back home if they find more convenient channels to make direct payments to institutions to which remittances are intended such as schools and hospitals.
More than half of remittances sent in 2020 went to rural areas where remittances ‘count the most’ and mobile remittances increased by 48 per cent in 2021. This is why digital and financial inclusion is important for everyone.
One of the three components of digital and financial inclusion is a digital transactional platform like Tulix.
When we think of digital and financial inclusion for Kenyans, we think of a shared wallet that allows Kenyans abroad to share money and collaborate on expenses with their loved ones back home.
Since users can track every transaction to a specific merchant on the app, this helps with budgeting, automating payments and ensuring there’s always money in the respective jars.
What’s a jar you may ask? Tulix offers a smart new way to share money with your loved ones for the things that matter the most.
Our app has a jar system—the first of its kind in Africa— that makes it possible for you to invite anyone to collaborate with you on contributions and payments for different purposes.
This leads us to the second part of this year’s IDFR theme.
When we think of recovery and resilience we think of quick bill payments for basic needs to support the livelihood of family members back home. Loved ones who are dealing with the aftermath of Covid-19 and facing a new threat—the rising cost of living in Kenya.
For far too long Kenyans abroad have had to contend with slow processes and payment delays when paying for things back home.
However, using Tulix they can now instantly share money or make direct payments to 300K+ businesses that accept mobile money so their loved ones can access crucial commodities in their time of need.
“At IFAD we believe remittances count the most in poor rural areas of developing countries. This is where remittances can help families left behind to build a more secure future. It is where economic growth and rural transformation change the lives of some of the poorest people.” Gilbert F. Houngbo, President of International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
Join us today in observing the International Day of Family Remittances as we work to make it easier for Kenyans all over the world to stay connected with their loved ones back home.
Learn more about the app here.