OkHi, a smart addressing startup, has partnered with Interswitch Group, Africa’s technology-driven company focused on payment digitization across the continent, to launch its smart address verification product. Interswitch’s payment and wallet service, Quickteller, has become the first business in Nigeria to use the OkHi address verification service.
OkHi, which was founded in Kenya in 2014, provides digital address verification to financial services, tackling a problem that is hindering growth and preventing millions of Nigerians from accessing credit. Financial services can easily verify their customers’ addresses through OkHi’s smart addressing technology, which eliminates the need for utility bills or physical visits.
Interswitch will offer all of its customers an OkHi address following the launch, allowing them access to larger wallets, faster loans, and improved last-mile deliveries through Quickteller’sCitimart and Global Mall. Customers who have an OkHi address will also be able to use it for personal purposes or with other delivery services, making daily tasks easier.
The unique technology provides an alternative to existing Know Your Customer (KYC) and paper-based processes, facilitating a more seamless digital service, helping to reduce onboarding times and lower operating costs.
OkHi’s entrance is ideally timed, given Nigeria’s rapidly increasing digital penetration and consequent alteration of how people connect. OkHi demonstrated in a recent test with Stanbic IBTC that it could improve address verification accuracy by 29%, boost speed by 4x, and save costs by 52%.
“At OkHi, we have developed the first solution in the world that can collect an extremely accurate address and verify it through a smartphone. To have Interswitch launching us to millions of people, via Quickteller, gives us an incredible platform to tackle financial inclusion in Nigeria.” CEO and Founder of OkHi, Timbo Drayson, said.
Commenting on the development, Interswitch Group’s Divisional CEO for Industry Ecosystem, Chinyere Don-Okhuofu, said: “At Interswitch, we take our customers and their evolving needs seriously and we are committed to identifying opportunities to unlock economic value for Africans. This partnership with OkHi is built on the need to digitize and simplify the existing address verification system thereby dealing with another significant barrier to financial services growth across Africa.”