myNGOVO, a Kenyan-based fintech startup, has launched a personal finance application that allows employers to offer salary advance to their employees. The fintech says the salary advance initiative would serve as an employee benefit, and it accrues no interest.

Using the myNGOVO app, employees can request up to 50% of their salaries in advance, and payments would be made into their mobile money account with myNGOVO.

‘’Income time does not always tally with the monetary needs of wage workers. Unforeseen cash needs, therefore, leads them to accrue debts to cater to their needs,’’ said Methuselah Marava, the CEO and co-founder of myNGOVO.

‘’The idea of this startup struck me after observing how my sister strives to pay outrageous interest charges on loans because her employer didn’t have enough capital to offer her a salary advance. I went a step further in my findings, and I found out that my sister is not the only employee faced with this challenge.’’

In July, myNGOVO began customer outreach and has been working towards raising seed funding. So far, the response has been positive in both aspects.

Already, the fintech has launched with a real estate management firm and has other firms from retail industries, security and hospitality on its waiting list.

‘’We hope to gather a lot of value in our home country’s market before extending our tentacles to comparable markets in Sub-Saharan Africa,’’ Marava added.