Hafizur Rahman, a worker employed in a Bangladeshi RMG factory, struggled to repay a loan he had taken the previous month to meet his gas and electricity expenses. 

Hafizur then learned about wagely, which offers an affordable, reliable, and transparent financial solution that helps workers like him cover day-to-day living expenses and emergencies without resorting to high-interest loans. 

Now, Hafizur is able to withdraw his salary before payday and meet his expenses.

75% of blue-collar workers in Bangladesh, like Hafizur, run out of money between pay cycles. Since employers find it hard to process advanced wages due to cash flow constraints, these workers have to resort to loan sharks to fulfill their basic needs, such as paying utilities, medical emergencies, and other necessities, as they cannot access formal banking channels. 

230,000 such RMG workers like Hafizur now use wagely and can access their earned wages before payday and meet ends without relying on debt.

wagely which operates in Bangladesh and Indonesia, aims to become Asia’s leading financial platform for blue-collar workers.

EWA Benefits Both Workers and Employers

EWA (Earned Wage Access) provides a solution by allowing workers to access a portion of their earned wages before their monthly payday. wagely offers an affordable, reliable, and transparent financing solution that helps workers cover expenses and emergencies without resorting to high-interest loans. This helps reduce financial stress for workers. They become more engaged and have better decision-making, which boosts their productivity. This solution also helps employers attract and retain talent and reduce employee turnover by providing this as a benefit to their workers.

wagely’s survey has shown that in Bangladesh, wagely users are 3x times more financially healthy – compared to non-wagely users; 95% of wagely users now have better savings than non-wagely users, and 88% of users are less dependent on loans.

Why We Invested in wagely

• Addressing a large need for many workers:  Indonesia and Bangladesh have over 200 million blue-collar workers. Given the nature of this product, it can be replicated in other countries in Asia, all of which have a large blue-collar workforce. Since banks do not serve these customers, wagely has a strong value proposition to succeed in the space.
• Positive impact on its customers and workers: wagely is improving the livelihoods of its users by giving them a cost-effective solution to managing their finances. Often, workers resort to predatory lenders and fall victim to the coercive methods used by collection agencies. Employers perceive wagely as an antidote to alter their employees’ high-interest-rate borrowing behavior. They believe wagely can increase employee retention and fulfillment.
• Great leadership of the founders: The founding team has demonstrated an agile and effective approach to always be at the forefront of the industry. Their deep understanding of the local market and customer base has led them to deliver the best products.
• Strong execution capability: Despite the short time since its inception, wagely has secured notable partnerships and delivered impressive growth. 
• Potential for GenAI applications: We believe applying GenAI gives a competitive advantage in both improving and defending the market position. wagely has multiple strong use cases for GenAI to enhance its product further and strengthen its internal operations through risk/fraud detection, creditworthiness, customer service, etc.

wagely provides a sustainable and win-win financial solution not only for underserved blue-collar workers but also employers. The strong traction in the two countries proves the huge demand for the product and excellent management execution.

Read more about the announcement here.