I am sure we are all familiar with Gift Vouchers. At some point, you may have come across them even in passing be they for popular services like Apple Music/iTunes or for those of a certain age who remember when Edgars Vouchers were a big deal. It appears that there is a new service that allows those in the diaspora to buy vouchers for fast food and other goods and services for their relatives back at home and it is called Wa-Faya (Wafaya).
The initiative is being run or supported by Simbisa because it covers most of their big brands like the Roco Mamas, Chicken Inn, Pizza Inn, Creamy Inn, Baker’s Inn, Fish Inn, Galito’s, Steers etc. So if you are in the diaspora and you want to buy a loved one lunch or a meal in general. You can buy a voucher online which will be sent to your recipient. Similar to how we send money across borders via remittance services.
How to get started?
From the information on Wa-Faya’s website, you need to start with creating an account. After that, you’ll get an array of vouchers starting from US$5.00 all the way up to entering your own amount. When you have chosen the voucher you want to send you’ll then have to make a payment adding in the details of the person who is receiving it.
When all has checked out the recipient will receive the voucher via text message which they can redeem at any one of the Wa-Faya partner brands.
The team over at Wa-Faya also ensure that the voucher system has some security to it. To make a purchase using the voucher you will be sent a One-Time-Pin (OTP) which you’ll need to enter in order to validate the transaction. You will also be able to check the remaining balance in the voucher on Wa-Faya’s website. For the person buying the voucher, the payment options are VISA, MasterCard, PayPal, American Express and Discover.
Simbisa is makes a moving on the remittance boom
Wa-Faya/Wafaya makes sense if you look at last year’s record remittance figure which peaked at over US$1 billion. We have seen traditional remittance services deepen their roots, partner up with banks and even offer no transactions fees for sending money to Zimbabwe.
Companies like Senditoo and Uhuru Wallet on top of airtime and sending money across borders, now offer ZESA token and DStv (Uhuru) subscription purchases from the diaspora. Simbisa clearly has seen the promise in this space and I think this is a bold and interesting move by the organisation if they are indeed the ones behind it.-techzim