KARACHI: Pakistani fintech startup ABHI this week announced it has partnered with Saudi Arabia’s cloud-based Point of Sale (POS) platform to launch the Earned Wage Access (EWA) service in the Kingdom, saying the move would promote financial inclusion.
EWA is a financial solution allowing employees to withdraw a portion of their earned salary anytime before payday, eliminating the need to wait until the end of the month.
The partnership entails integrating ABHI’s EWA technology into TRAY’s enterprise POS ecosystem, restaurants, cafés, and cloud kitchens across the Kingdom, allowing them to provide staff with on-demand salary access. ABHI said the move would financially empower employees, reduce turnover and strengthen retention in one of the most dynamic industries in Saudi Arabia, food and beverage.
“Partnering with TRAY enables ABHI to bring Earned Wage Access directly into the heart of Saudi Arabia’s hospitality sector,” Omair Ansari, ABHI co-founder and chief executive officer, said in a statement on Wednesday.
“By integrating our solution into TRAY’s platform, we provide SMEs with a tool to improve workforce retention while advancing financial inclusion across the Kingdom.”
ABHI said with the help of TRAY, which already supports payments, financing and delivery integrations, the Pakistani fintech’s EWA services will be offered as an embedded feature, making it easier than ever for businesses to adopt and provide employees with financial flexibility.
It said the collaboration is designed to support Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 goals of financial inclusion, workforce empowerment and growth of small and medium businesses.
ABHI, founded in 2021, has been serving customers in Pakistan, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Oman through its credit-bridging products. The company says it offers, apart from EWA, services such as invoice factoring, SME working capital and revenue-based financing and payroll solutions.
The fintech says it has served more than 1,000,000 users since entering the market, spanning industries from textiles and manufacturing to health care and technology.
ABHI says it is backed by leading investors, including Y Combinator, VEF, SpeedInvest, Venture Souq, Global Ventures, and Zayn Capital.
