Smart Padala expands digital services with 26,000 partners

CEBU, Philippines — Bills payments and other digital services will soon be made available in the neighborhood outlets like sari-sari stores, as Smart Padala converts its 26,000 partners into full digital hubs.

In a press conference held yesterday to launch its “Milyun-Milyong Tiwala’ campaign, PayMaya Philippines, Inc., associate director Rolando “Butch” Conejos Jr., announced that with the conversion of its partner agents to full digital hubs, payments of bills, money transfer, loan disbursements, add to money paymaya accounts, QR payments, and digital goods.

Smart Padala is the country's leading mobile remittance service under PayMaya Philippines, the digital financial services arm of Voyager Innovations backed by KKR, Tencent, and PLDT.

Initially, Smart Padala targets to convert at least 50 percent of its 26,000 partner agents to be a full digital hub, which means that services will not only be limited to selling prepaid loads, disbursing remittance or money transfer, but other digital services.

“Smart Padala is a critical ingredient in building a ‘cashless’ Philippines. Our more than 26,000 agents around the country act as community hubs for financial and digital services,” said Paolo Azzola, COO and Managing Director.

According to the Inclusive Digital Finance Report released by FINTQ in 2017, more than 70 percent of provinces have medium to low access to formal financial services, effectively leaving them out of the growing digital economy. 

  Aspiring entrepreneurs can quickly and easily start a Smart Padala business because there is no franchise fee required. Once complete business requirements have been submitted, the Smart Padala store can be built and operated in less than a week. (FREEMAN)