This program provides newcomers with training, mentoring and supports required to become self-employed by providing them with the necessary knowledge and skills needed to participate in the local labour market as entrepreneurs.
TawiPay (www.tawipay.com) is a pilot project that started in 2015. Its main goal is to increase transparency in the remittance channels. SECO is currently financing the establishment of the two channels Switzerland – Serbia and Switzerland – Bosnia. The project’s objective is to enable migrants/diaspora communities to reduce the cost of sending money to their home countries.
In Morocco, IOM is assisting Moroccan expatriates based in Belgium to establish businesses in their communities by: (a) providing financial support; (b) through a partnership with the Solvay Business School, providing technical support in business planning and; (c) helping to navigate the bureaucratic procedures for establishing a business in Morocco. Through this project, IOM also manages a website that provides information on opportunities as well as how to invest and start a business in Morocco (www.guide-entreprise.org/maroc).
www.sendmoneyasia.org has been created through the Australian Governments' led initiative 'Reducing the Cost of Remittances to Asia'. The project has been developed and managed by the project partner, Developing Markets Associates Ltd (DMA).
The website provides important information on the many choices migrants living in Australia have when sending money back to their families and friends in China, India, Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam.
Established on 6th March 2007 by Vodafone's Kenyan associate, Safaricom, M-Pesa (M for mobile, pesa is Swahili for money) is Africa's leading mobile money service, which operates in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique and Tanzania.
Mobile phone-based remittance systems are employed by a number of providers, including Smart Communications, Inc. and Globe Telecoms. They allow remitters to transmit money by using their beneficiaries' mobile phones.
In the Dominican Republic, Quisqueyana, Mercantil, and Visa International produced a product called Cashpin, the only card product in the Dominican remittance marketplace. Cashpin is a rechargeable debit card, hand-delivered in the traditional way. Once the sender sets up the account, the card need only be activated by the receiver by phone. Value can be increased by both the sender and the receiver. The card is usable anywhere in the local or international Visa Electron network, as well as on the domestic ATH network.
The International Remittance Network (IRnet®) was established in 1999 to facilitate remittance flows from the US to Latin America.
World Council of Credit Unions (WCUU )established the Network based on the urging of member credit unions from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico and Jamaica, and according to the World Bank it resulted in lower fees charged by the IRnet compared to major Money Transfer Companies (MTOs) - a flat rate of $10 to send up to $1000.
The Philippines National Bank has teamed up with 7Eleven and Citibank in Hong Kong to provide remittance services. Under the agreement, Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) can remit on many street corners in Hong Kong through any of 7-Eleven’s 480 outlets, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Wells Fargo has made inroads to Vietnam by partnering with the Commercial Bank of Vietnam (Incombank) by offering an account-to-account remittance program. Customers in the United States can send up to $3,000 a day to Vietnam for $8. As one of the largest banks in Vietnam, Incombank gives recipients an opportunity to claim their funds at more than 700 branches and 400 ATMs throughout Vietnam.