Afrigather Almost per week after the CBN revoked Eyowo’s Microfinance financial institution license, its customers are nonetheless unable to entry the funds within the digital financial institution. In consequence, some customers have resorted to purchasing airtime and cable subscriptions on the platform with the intention of reselling them with a view to retrieve their cash.
A day after Nigeria’s Central Financial institution revoked the microfinance financial institution licence of the digital financial institution Eyowo, clients realised they might now not obtain or ship cash on the app. Regardless of assurances from Eyowo that it’s engaged on the difficulty, clients have discovered one other approach to withdraw their cash— shopping for airtime or cable subscriptions with the cash of their Eyowo accounts and reselling them.
An announcement from Eyowo assured clients that it was working to resolve the state of affairs and gave a timeline of 72 hours. However three days after that timeline, a number of clients advised TechCabal that the state of affairs persists. Eyowo advised clients on Friday that it had “made vital progress in resolving among the challenges you have got confronted because of the CBN directive. We’re working to make sure you have full entry to your cash. It is possible for you to to ship cash to any financial institution by your Eyowo, nevertheless this won’t take impact at the moment, because of the administrative requirement that requires a few working days.”
Nonetheless, the endurance of quite a few clients is sporting skinny as their private and enterprise wants are being delayed because of the unavailability of their funds in Eyowo. In response to this irritating state of affairs, clients are exploring various strategies to withdraw funds from their inaccessible Eyowo accounts. Although withdrawal have been paused, choices like airtime buy and cable subscription are nonetheless lively on the Eyowo app, so some customers are buying airtime with the app and reselling them to acquire money. Whereas some are advertising the airtime and subscription on the market on-line, others are merely promoting it on Palmpay utilizing its Recharge2Cash choice. “I despatched out all my funds utilizing airtime, [but I had to do it in batches because] the utmost quantity of airline you should buy on Eyowo is N8000,” a consumer stated. TechCabal has confirmed that the airtime choice continues to be accessible however there isn’t a restrict to how a lot you’ll be able to recharge.
It seems that this technique shouldn’t be novel as a Twitter consumer additionally affirmed that he did the very same factor when fintech platform Carbon skilled an identical downtime previously. He tweeted, “Comparable 5 days of downtime occurred with Carbon, and I had to purchase airtime to empty my account… The lesson right here is rarely to maintain bulk cash with Fintechs.”
Prospects who use Eyowo as enterprise accounts have tweeted about being below monumental strain from clients. A younger woman who sells indigenous clothes materials Aso oke advised TechCabal that she has clients who’re awaiting orders she will be able to’t fulfill because of the circumstances. “Eyowo is the one platform the place I take funds for Aso oke manufacturing. All the cash I’ve taken for manufacturing (about N350,000) is caught within the account and I’m unable to satisfy purchasers’ orders,” she stated. One other small enterprise proprietor advised TechCabal, “After saving and trying to find an acceptable store in Lagos for my enterprise, I’m unable to pay due to the problems Eyowo is experiencing.”
Beneath posts on the corporate’s social media accounts, some clients have expressed related resolutions to cease utilizing the digital financial institution. Chatting with TechCabal, Sandra, a social media supervisor, stated, “I’m performed with Eyowo. It has been one difficulty after one other. My cash continues to be there however I’ve moved on.”
A number of customers, together with enterprise homeowners, seem like extra understanding and affected person with Eyowo, expressing their gratitude for its efforts to maintain them knowledgeable. Lilian, a web-based vendor, shared with TechCabal, “Whereas it hasn’t been a easy expertise, Eyowo has been diligent in offering updates.”
One other Eyowo consumer advised TechCabal, “I’ve not been in a position to entry my cash however yesterday I acquired a name from their buyer care promising they had been going to settle it.”
It nonetheless stays unclear why the CBN revoked the MFB license of the digital financial institution. In response to the apex financial institution, the licenses of the 47 microfinance banks had been revoked as a result of that they had both remained inactive, bancrupt, didn’t render returns, closed store, or ceased to hold on the kind of banking enterprise for which they had been licensed for greater than six (6) months. When requested which of the aforementioned Eyowo is culpable of, the CBN refused to remark. Eyowo has not responded to questions on it both.
