DINARAK

Approximately 60% of the population of Jordan are financially excluded, under-banked or un-banked. Without access to formal financial services, these people are forced to live in an inherently risky and costly cash economy.

Dinarak’s payment platform allows users to set-up e-Wallet accounts on their mobile phones and deposit cash at local agents to create e-Money balances. Users can then send and receive money, make deposits and withdrawals, and pay for bills, goods and services.

For those living in a cash economy, every day financial transactions can be severely challenging: sending cash to family and friends is risky and costly; carrying and storing cash can be unsafe; paying households bills often means time and money is wasted on travel. Without a demonstrable financial history, people can also miss-out on opportunities to escape the poverty cycle e.g.  the lack of means to save makes it harder to cope with personal financial shocks.

Dinarak's core value proposition is to save people time, effort and money by giving them the power to make almost any financial transaction on their mobile phone in a convenient, affordable and secure manner. Its primary target market is the unbanked population of Jordan, who have no access to formal financial services. 

We believe that financial inclusion is a pillar of equitable and inclusive economic growth across geographies and demographics and a foundation for social and civic participation and inclusion.

Approximately 60% of the population of Jordan are financially excluded and less than one in three women have access to a bank account. The gender gap in access to finance in Jordan stands at 30 percent and has been growing over the last few years. Refugees in Jordan are prohibited from having bank accounts and are restricted in their ability to integrate within the host economy. There are about 1.4 million Syrian refugees in Jordan.

Globally, about 1.7 billion adults remain unbanked—without an account at a financial institution or through a mobile money provider. Because account ownership is nearly universal in high-income economies, virtually all unbanked adults live in developing economies.

Low-income individuals: who, without bank accounts, use a significant proportion of their earnings just for simple financial transactions, such as paying bills or sending money to friends and family. Via Dinarak wallet, they  also benefit from receiving many of their Government subsidies and welfare payments in a dignified way saving them time, money and effort (e.g. government funds may be withdrawn from authorized agents via smart or feature phone).

Women: who lack not only financial independence, but also the means to save money safely and control their family finances. In Jordan, less than one in three women have access to a bank account. The gender gap in access to finance in Jordan stands at 30 percent and has been growing over the last few years.

Refugees: who are prohibited from having bank accounts and are restricted in their ability to integrate within the host economy. We have engaged with many humanitarian and development agencies to activate and disburse funds to refugees through Dinarak wallet.

Youth: Jordanian society is one of the youngest in the world – people under 30 constitute 74% of the population and median age is 23.9. We have many initiatives targeted towards youth financial literacy and education.

Our mobile payment services are tailored primarily to benefit the financially excluded, under-banked and unbanked population with a focus on low income Jordanians, women, youth, SMEs, refugees and host communities. Dinarak’s payment platform allows customers to set-up e-Wallet accounts on their mobile phones and deposit cash at local agents to create e-Money balances. Users can then send and receive money, make deposits and withdrawals, and pay for bills, goods and services with complete locational freedom. Dinarak customers may obtain an optional Dinarak prepaid card that they can use to make online payments and purchases (e-commerce), make purchases at point of sales and withdraw cash from ATMs in Jordan and globally.

Our network of mobile money agents (over 450 locations) are spread all over the country making our services accessible to those living outside the city centers and away from formal banking branches. Our mobile money agents are key in engaging and educating customers about our services. They register customers into our service and facilitate deposits and withdrawals in or out of their Dinarak wallets. Dinarak’s work with the Arab Women’s Enterprise Fund has led to many female-run companies becoming Dinarak agents – effectively building the country’s and MENA’s first network of female mobile money agents – which has been an innovative channel for the acquisition of female customers while generating extra income to the female agents. In many mobile money initiatives around the world, female uptake has been challenging, but our female agents’ network, along with community-based programs, has helped create greater awareness of mobile money benefits and encouraged tens of thousands of women to sign-up.

We offer a cash withdrawal system that does not require a smart phone with internet access (feature phone will do) geared towards low-income population, refugees and recipients of government subsidies.

We have partnered with many financial services providers, such as Microfinance Institutions to offer improved and more convenient digital loan disbursement and repayment via the wallet. In addition to many schools and universities providing our services to their students combined with financial literacy and education activities.

Dinarak is strongly committed to digital financial literacy and awareness and we utilize traditional and alternative channels to interact and convey our materials to our customer base. We strongly utilize social media channels utilizing different formats: text, images, videos and games. We utilize phone and email and conduct in-person meetings and training sessions focused on core messages and use cases.