Qasif Shahid, Co-Founder & CEO at Finja, shares how they are transforming financial landscape and providing accessible services to Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) and their stakeholders.
Finja is a modern day digital organization that aims to lead Pakistan’s economy towards digital transformation.
Mr. Shahid says, “We believe in developing digital efficiencies which is the fastest method to transform and digitize the economy and the only way through which Pakistan’s economic infrastructure can grow to compete on the global landscape. With our enabling eco-system, we have the ability to grow and build products for unique customer needs.”
Discussing their star product Finja Business, he further states that, “It is a complete business solution with primary focus on to anchor business, it’s stakeholders and all other counterparts to improve efficiency and how they interact with each other.”
“A cloud based platform which allows businesses to manage their banking relationships, payrolls, vendor relations, employee relations, collections and disbursements, taxes, utility payments, HRM and attendance along with other parts of the businesses with advanced business intelligence and reporting.”
The other massive growth area for Finja are the mom and pop stores i.e. kiryana network which is an underserved segment.
Mr. Shahid states that, “We are in collaboration with FMCGs, distributors and partnering banks extending credit to retail stores so that they can use the additional funds to boost their sales cycle.”
While in conversing with Daily NewsPK for their series ‘Digitization: Embedding and Embracing the Change’, Mr. Qasif Shahid explained how they strategized to pursue operations during the recent crisis & overcome different challenges by using technology for the digital future.
1. How did you respond to the COVID-19 crisis? What strategy did you adopt to pursue operations during the crisis?
In anticipation of Pakistan transforming into a virtual work space, we successfully leveraged our EMI status and managed to upgrade and retool our new-age payments platform “Finja Business”. This move enabled us to capitalize on the “pull” that we were experiencing in businesses wanting to go digital in order to simply keep the lights on. Under the new design, institutions and corporates can now sign up instantly without any paperwork or face-to-face meetings and manage essential business operations such as payments, disbursements, e-invoicing/collections for their employees, vendors, suppliers, partners and clients. Additionally, businesses can also conduct tax calculations, manage employee leaves and attendance and enjoy real time reporting and analytics.
At the same time, we worked on digitizing the Kiryana store or the local corner store network as an underserved segment in the market which also struggled to maintain inventory during the pandemic led lock-down peaks in the country. Through our partnership with multiple FMCGs and their distributors we successfully crafted relationships with over 5,000 merchants in multiple cities and extended short term digital loans of over PKR 500 million (USD 3 Million) to this segment at the back of using our NBFC (Non-Banking-Financial Corporation) status.
2. What are the technologies that are playing crucial role nowadays? And how are you leveraging them to enhance consumer experience?
While digital payments have rubbed off on consumers, digital collections for businesses is having its moment now. The good news is that Finja has now become a member institution of the one-link platform, launching the “Collections” feature which enables us to connect with 22 banks that are a part of the network. For instance, schools and universities can really benefit from this feature and automate their fee collection process entirely!
3. What are some of the main challenges you are facing currently?
Digital penetration and wider adoption in the lower strata still remains a challenge. Unlike our neighbouring country, small business owners in Pakistan only realize the benefit after a couple of trials so getting them to give it a shot in the first place poses as an obstacle.
4. How do you imagine the financial industry will change post COVID-19? Is the future completely digital?
As the world recovers from an unprecedented crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the fundamentals of how we live, borrow, shop, learn, socialize and operate businesses. In countries like Pakistan, where brick and mortar mentality runs deep, the change is even more profound. When nationwide lock-downs occurred, no one in the corporate, business, bureaucracy, government and retail was talking about why it couldn’t work. The whole mode had changed to “how to make it work”. In the past few months, we have seen Pakistan adapt to a virtual workspace so it can be safely said that digital is no longer a luxury but an indispensable truth. So yes, to answer your question, digital is the present and future.
5. How to forge the partnerships where partners embody common values and embrace & leverage differences between entities?
The power of partnerships should never be underestimated. Nowhere is this truer than in the financial services industry, which is undergoing a significant shift as the ecosystem is increasingly dominated by partnerships rather than one-man shows. In markets like Pakistan, collaborations with incumbents who share the same value system is imperative to get FinTechs off the ground. While, incumbents are unable to scale, FinTech organizations possess the agility and disruptive force to help them evolve very quickly. In order to stay viable, competitive, and relevant, banks and FinTechs should continue to partner with one other in some form, since it has tremendous impact on long-term growth for both sides.
6. How the market players and regulators can help make payments faster, cheaper and more convenient?
The regulatory approvals are a game-changer! The acquisition of two regulatory licenses has enabled us to build a robust payments and lending platform without operational dependence on partnering incumbents. Currently, we’re the only FinTech company in the country that holds both the EMI (Electronic Money Institution) license from the State Bank of Pakistan as well as the NBFC (Non-Banking Finance Corporation) from SECP (Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan).
7. What are the key partnerships and initiatives you have taken to enhance customer experience in recent times?
In our efforts to create the future railroads of commerce in Pakistan, we are working towards forming partnerships which will fulfil the financial and technological needs of businesses and people associated to them. Today, Finja occupies a unique position in the value chain to partner and collaborate with commercial and microfinance banks, upcoming DFIs (Digital Financial Institutions), FMCGs, distributors, merchants and other cross industry incumbents all in dire need to digitize their operations and value propositions to stay relevant in these changing times.
8. What are the key customer pain points in business payments that you are addressing and at same time ensuring their security?
Managing payments, disbursements and collections have always been a major pain point for businesses. With Finja Business, SMEs have the opportunity to load funds into their portal and make essential business payments digitally without shifting or opening any new bank accounts.
9. What consumer trends do you see creating new digital opportunities?
With the outbreak of the pandemic, consumer preferences have shifted largely towards digital alternatives for their day-to-day needs. From ordering food and grocery online, to not wanting to step into a bank anymore or touch cash; the opportunities are vast. Leaders who want to succeed in the digital-led recovery must quickly reset their digital agendas to meet new customer needs. In other words, C-level executives must point their digital firepower at the right targets and quickly execute against them
10. How do you expect the business will change in 2021?
Undoubtedly, companies will have to rethink, not tweak, their business models and will have to build, or strengthen, backup and safety plans, be it deeper layers of succession planning or significantly expanding work-at-home capabilities for more employees. Investors are likely to take note and to devise ways to incorporate new resiliency metrics into their valuation. Many companies will need to rebalance their priorities, making additional resiliency measures as important to their strategic thinking as cost and efficiency. Since necessity is often the mother of invention, the pandemic could bring some positive outcomes.
