Toby Nwanede, the Sales and Marketing Director, Pay It Forward (PIF), a gifting app that was launched in Nigeria in November 2022 and aims to help its users to send and receive gifts to their loved ones, with over 100 vendors around Nigeria, has said that the app is empowering local businesses in Nigeria by providing them access to customers across the world.
Nwanede, in interaction with Nigerian Tribune, said the app was developed to help people share non-monetary gifts like food, hair styling services, massage sessions and support charities across the world without the challenge of distance.
“We are empowering local businesses; as a business owner in Nigeria who is on PIF, you have access to customers all over the world who are sending your services to their friends and families living in Nigeria. We are empowering local businesses, connecting people with ‘random acts of kindness’ to stay connected wherever they are.
“We also look at how we can encourage people to support families, charities, refugees, and IDPs in war-torn communities in Nigeria. We are working with global charities like Children Cancer Foundation, Red Cross and WeShelter in Denmark, and Dream Catchers Academy in Nigeria. We are already in talks with the United Nations, government agencies and other frontline NGOs and charities to provide care and relief packages from donors.
“One of the things you can do with PIF is you can send both monetary and non-monetary donations directly to charities who are coordinating charitable efforts in these communities. Essentially, PIF is a global gifting and supporting platform,” he said.
Highlighting the Unique Selling Proposition of PIF, Nwanede said, “All over the world, there are several gifting apps but they tend to be quite limited because you can only gift people who are in the same location as you but with PIF, what we do is that we go into the different countries and communities and onboard merchants locally. That means that regardless of where one is, one can send gifts using PIF.
“Another beautiful thing about PIF is that the person sending would have paid and the receiver need not worry about payment. Also, the receiver, most times, has up to 30 days to redeem the products sent.”
The Growth and Marketing Lead of PIF, Oyinlola Omoniyi, while explaining the concept of the app, said it was designed to encourage people to show acts of kindness while closing the gap between distance and currency of payment.
Omoniyi said partnerships have been made with retail stores like Shoprite and mPharma, a pharmaceutical company, to make products accessible to its customers in Nigeria.
“What we do is to help people share love more efficiently and in a better way. With the increase of e-commerce, a lot of people want to do things online and this has also increased access to people without the restrictions of distance and how money is sent.
“We have removed all of those barriers too and made it easier for people to show little acts of kindness. For as little as N500, you can make an impact in someone’s life; that is the concept of Pay It Forward.
“We are in seven countries and Nigeria is one of our biggest markets. We partnered with mPharma to make medicines more accessible to people.
“We discovered that Nigerians in diaspora sent care and relief packages worth $12 billion in 2021 which was used for the purchase of food and medicines. With PIF, Nigerians in the diaspora get access to thousands of care and relief packages and can pay in their local currency with a transfer.
“Through our integrated payment partners in the countries PIF operate in, they pay for the drug or food and the person in Nigeria receives it, delivery method is to be negotiated by the vendor and users,” he said.
The app, which has such categories as food and drinks, groceries, restaurants, bar and lounges, medication, etc., allows for instant or scheduled delivery of gifts which works great for birthdays or special occasions.
It is already in use in Sweden, Denmark, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Italy and Spain. The app is available to download for free on Google Play Store and Apple Store.
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