By Prince Osuagwu

The problem of the Nigerian worker is that he does not have access to funds until the end of the month when he gets paid. This is despite the fact needs do not wait that long. Needs arise every hour and the Nigerian worker must work out a way to settle his needs before the end of the month.

Most often, the last resort is to go a borrowing or seek credit facilities for needed goods and services.

Most unfortunately, these types of solutions keep the worker permanently enslaved and diminish the beauty of working with the pangs of debt and pains of overshooting the salary. This is a familiar terrain a typical Nigerian worker passes that keeps him working months and years without meaningful planning and tangible achievements.

However, the story of the Nigerian worker is about to change. Reprieve has come with an innovative idea, pioneered by three smart Nigerians who run a fintech company called Lastmile Financials Limited.

The trio came up with a fintech product called Paymasta. The global product, specifically boasts of a local solution considering that it solves the age-long financial problem of the Nigerian worker.

At the core of PayMasta is Earned Wage Access (EWA), a system whereby employees can access their salaries before payday.  Although EWA, has been globally available for years, it has only taken the Paymasta to bring it around to Nigeria.

Founders of Lastmile, chief Evangelist, Gerald Erih, Chief Operating Officer, Michael Domino Jr and Co-Founder Festus Aletile, are upbeat that with Paymasta, a credible credit culture has crept into the Nigerian ecosystem

Although the solution was just launched recently, it has already, signed up a good number of companies seeking to integrate the novel system into their structures.

According to the Chief Evangelist, Gerald Erih with PayMasta, a conversation that has dominated Nigerian families on how to get money before payday will finally come to an end.

He said: “With EWA, users can withdraw as much as 75 per cent of their salaries before payday. But, we are working on scaling it up to 100 per cent.

 “Our target audience are people that work 9.00 am to 5.00 pm daily and live their lives paycheck to paycheck. In Nigeria, that’s about 80 per cent of the working-class population. We are all about enabling them to have access to money that they earn when they need it and  also help them plan their finances and track their expenses.

 “Financial stress is a major factor affecting employees globally, but with PayMasta, they can now achieve financial freedom,” he added.

Erih however clarified that PayMasta is not a loan company at all but rather provides access to what has been earned before payday, charging just a minimal interest.