Redeploying the banked

How Grey became part of my life.

The folks at Grey Finance say they are banking the unbanked, but that’s only part of the story.

Banking the unbanked happened a long time ago. We have the likes of Interswitch to thank for that.

In fact, the unbanked has evolved, rather grudgingly, through many epochs, to the point where he is now overbanked, with less than a dollar in each account.

The average Nigerian has at least 3 different bank apps on their mobile device, and a crypto wallet lurking somewhere there. You can’t get more overbanked than that!

Now, with the dominance of POS machines, onboarding another random user to another fintech platform has a marginal effect somewhere in the neighborhood of zero.

So, we don’t need more fintech products that perform the same CRUD functions and add to our misery, with their unending notifications and ambiguous charges.

We need someone to slap us in the face while screaming “There’s more!!!!!“

And Grey is that someone.

Yes, that slap will hurt.

But like every other slap you’ve ever received, you'll leave that spot with a different view of life.

Grey opened my eyes to more opportunities. More options on how to redeploy my money. And that's worth a thousand rounds of applause.

But before you clap, here’s my Grey story:

It all started on 1st Sept 2023 at 4:30am.

I had just mindlessly filled the KYC of another fintech app called Grey.

“What an absurd name“ I thought to myself. “I just want to pay for this Udemy course… which one is Grey again?“

The KYC involved standard stuff like uploading your government ID documents and doing a 360 degree with your head. I didn’t care. I just wanted to pay for a damn Udemy course and all my other cards were not working.

The KYC was quite fast. By 4:52 am, I was ready to ball.

Grey integrates smoothly with local banks in over 10 countries where they are live. So, funding my account was not a problem.

But I was a bit skeptical.

Like every unbanked that has seen the rise and fall of a lot of services, I was concerned about the longevity of this company. So, I did a quick search on their website, saw they were backed by Y-combinator, and sighed a breath of relief. I did not need any further proof. I am a software engineer and I know what it means to be backed by YC .

But the moment of truth was fast approaching. I was going to use the Grey card attached to my account to pay for this course. With fingers crossed, I proceeded.

First, I had to convert my local fiat to USD. Easy peasy.

Then the worst happened. Help!

My card got frozen.

Here’s why. I tried making payment with the card, without first funding it.

I hope the Grey team can put a tutorial somewhere for future customers who will likely make this same mistake.

My card getting frozen got me worried. But it also introduced me to the warm customer service at Grey.

I hope Amarachi still works at Grey. Asides the smooth UX and speed on the app, Amarachi’s assistance gave me a good reason to remain with the product.

It’s 9:53am, and my card just got unfrozen. Phew!

And then the magic happens. For the first time in my life, I was able to pay for a Udemy course. Hurray!

Ever since then, my life has not remained the same.

Whenever I find a friend struggling to make or receive online payments, I refer them to Grey.

When I need to pay for the AI services I use in my startup, I turn to Grey.

Earlier this year, when a very close friend released a song and needed to pay an online platform for promotions, all other cards failed, but Grey came through.

When I was collecting donations for a church project, and needed a safe and secure place to store the funds, Grey answered.

If my friends talk about how expensive master's programs are, I tell them about the partnership between Nexford University and Grey, which offers a 20% discount on all tuition fees.

When my relatives are making vacation plans and worry about how to receive money in Brazil, South Africa, the Philippines, Ghana, and many other lesser-known places, I preach Grey to them like my life depends on it.

Yes, this is a free advert for Grey Finance because I love what they do, and this newsletter is about celebrating the art of building great products.

This is also my way of saying a big thank you to them for making life much easier for me. I look forward to what they have in store next, and possibly joining them to build something meaningful someday.

Being Nigerian means taking your time to build products people love.

Being Nigerian means building an incredible product like Grey.

And this, my friend, is the way.