This month at The Fintech Times, we are looking at Fintech for good: this encompasses companies looking to better communities within their society that are struggling financially.
When a know-it-all (schmegegge in Yiddish) brutally established that fintechs who made money were inherently bad, as anyone who wasn’t not-for-profit, was evil and selfish, we at The Fintech Times set out to prove them wrong by reaching out to a variety of for-profit companies across the US, offering alternative solutions to banking, access to finance, remittances and more for minority communities and elaborate on the positive impact they were having. Check out the introductory article here.
Winston Damarillo, CEO of Talino Venture Labs and fintech startup, BayaniPay, explains how his company are helping the Filipino community in North America and in turn, the Philippines.
Dear Dr. Schmegeggee,
It is disheartening that you have a negative perception of the fintech industry, which has largely challenged traditional financial structures and advanced economic opportunities for underserved communities.
As the CEO of Talino Venture Labs, building inclusive technology is at the core of what we do, and we have seen the firsthand impact of these solutions in emerging markets from Asia to our very own backyard in the United States. In particular, our fintech startup, BayaniPay, is a borderless financial service for global professionals who work abroad and send money to their loved ones and take care of other responsibilities, such as merchant and bill payments, in their home countries—all through the convenience of a web app. While there are brick and mortar locations to process such transactions, the pandemic has accelerated the need for accessible and unified platforms that give these professionals the security that their hard-earned money reaches the intended recipient without interruptions OR physical limitations.
More than 270 million global professionals around the world experience this challenge, and BayaniPay is starting by serving the over 4.2 million Filipinos in the United States, who comprise the third-largest Asian group in the country, and whose remittances contribute towards 9% of the Philippines’ gross domestic product. The money that Filipino Americans send back home goes towards home payments, tuition and education, healthcare and other basic necessities—and even charitable donations to reputable non-profits helping the poor—which, in turn, enable the upward mobility of Filipinos. Imagine the tremendous multiplier impact that this has on millions of people, and how much more we can help and empower as we expand our operations. All these values from a technology you deem “evil”, but which is actually a lifeline for millions of people around the world.
Sincerely,
Winston Damarillo
CEO, Talino Venture Labs
BayaniPay is currently available to residents of California sending money to the Philippines. The company plans to roll out its service to several other states, as well as partner with leading financial establishments serving other Asian countries, offering the lowest fees in the market and competitive foreign exchange rates to create affordable remittance, in order to extend its service to as many global professionals as possible. In addition, BayaniPay will soon roll out BayaniPay Prime, a yearly subscription service that waives all transaction fees, and offers exclusive partner discounts and other perks that lower the cost and add greater value for frequent emitters.
