Social Media has many uses, but helping those in developing countries is not usually the one we first think of. Other, somewhat superficial uses include (but are not limited to) endless selfies, narcissistic updates, holiday snaps and of course, corporate messages. All that could be about to change.
The money transfer company, Azimo, along with Facebook, is revolutionising the financial industry, which will be of great benefit to developing countries. Many people from some of the world’s poorest countries travel to richer nations to begin work that will help their families back home. When they are paid, they send money back to help loved ones, who may be struggling back home. At present, such remittances are a very tricky business, because they are costly through high street banks.
Azimo prides itself on keeping costs low when sending money to over 190 countries in the world, for many different purposes. They never use branches, and they say they never will, because these are unnecessary costs which could be invested into helping keep prices low for some of the world’s poorest. Which is exactly what they’re doing.
Now, they’ve teamed up with Facebook to make this process even simpler. As the following infographic shows, there is a direct correlation between social media and money transfers, because the Facebook market closely aligns with the remittances market. Facebook is an International platform, which easily connects its users worldwide, which is obviously the ultimate aim for an ethical money transfer company that doesn’t want its users to feel disconnected from family and friends on the other side of the world.
If this is as successful as it’s hoped, Facebook and Azimo could very well change the face of the industry – and even society – for the better.
