KARACHI: Pakistani freelancers can earn and retain a significant portion of their income after Pakistani fintech SadaPay’s announcement last week that its users can receive payments from global payment gateways Google Pay and Apple Pay, fintech experts said on Wednesday.
SadaPay, a wholly owned subsidiary of SadaPay Technologies registered at the Dubai International Financial Center special economic zone, announced last week that users of its business account, SadaBiz, would be able to receive payments from Apple Pay and Google Pay. This means that the two global mobile payment systems would connect Pakistani freelancers to over 700 million devices worldwide.
The absence of major global payment systems in Pakistan has made it difficult for the country’s freelancers to work with global clients. Some of these problems include finding consistent jobs, financially lucrative gigs, dealing with payment delays, not having access to a bank account or credit card for online purchases or paying platform fees of 20 percent or higher.
“The process is really “sada” (simple) — a freelancer can generate a payment link within seconds from their SadaPay app and send it to their client,” Omer Salimullah, the Chief Operating Officer of SadaPay, told Arab News in an email response on Wednesday.
He said the invoice can be paid via Mastercard, Visa, Apple Pay, or Google Pay system, and that funds would be directly deposited in a user’s SadaPay wallet within two to three business days.
Salimullah said Pakistani users would have access to millions of international clients directly and would be able to avail payments at exchange rates that enable them to retain a large portion of their income, he added.
Apple Pay’s user base, at 550 million, has surpassed PayPal’s 450 million figure and its payment volume via Apple Pay is four times greater than PayPal’s, SadaPay said.
However, some fintech experts called for directly integrating international payment gateways with Pakistan’s banking system for real-time transactions, citing the limited acceptance of these gateways in Pakistan.
“For instance, while positive, a recent fintech announcement about Apple Pay integration still involves some delays,” Noshad Minhas, co-founder and CEO of Walee Financial services, observed.
“When international payment gateways are fully integrated, funds can flow directly into dollar accounts and be converted to Pakistani rupees in real-time.”
Minhas, however, said millions of Pakistani freelancers operating in the global market would immediately benefit from the development.
“The potential volume of funds that freelancers attract as FDI (foreign direct investment) or reverse capital flight to Pakistan is estimated at $400 to $500 million,” he disclosed.
Mehwish Aslam, Chief Business Officer at bSecure, a checkout solution backed by venture accelerator Z2C, agreed.
“The introduction of international payment gateways has considerably supported transactions for freelancers,” she said in response to an email inquiry from Arab News.
Aslam thanked Pakistan’s central bank for its recent measures that allow hassle-free access to banking services and enable users to open and manage bank accounts easily, especially for foreign currency transactions.
“Collaborating with international gateways to facilitate these transactions can significantly boost transaction volumes for local banks and financial institutions, while attracting new customers,” she said.
The number of freelancers in Pakistan is continuously increasing, including an 88 percent surge observed between December 2022 and March 2023, according to data shared by Pakistan’s central bank.
“The estimates currently indicate that there are around 3 million freelancers in Pakistan,” Salimullah said.
“We want to grow this to 10 million in the next few years because we believe that digital talent can become Pakistan’s most significant competitive advantage on the global stage.”
Tufail Ahmed Khan, president of Pakistan Freelancers Association, welcomed the integration of SadaPay with the two payment gateways. However, he called for more payment gateways in Pakistan.
“The entry of new global payment platforms in Pakistan is a welcoming move that will further strengthen facilitation to freelancers,” Khan told Arab News.
