Pakistani multimillionaire to launch payment app to boost employment opportunities

According to Pakistani multimillionaire business mogul and Hashoo Group CEO Murtaza Hashwani, a digital payment app called Foree is set to be rolled out in Pakistan in May this year. The app will help boost the global cashless economy, create tens of thousands of jobs in Pakistan and facilitate overseas workers, especially in the Middle East, in remitting payments back home.

In an interview with Arab News, Hashwani explained that Foree will be the first of its kind payment solution in Pakistan and that it was geared towards creating a global impact.

“Foree will be the first online payment system in Pakistan,” the Hashoo chief executive said. “Our ambition is global. This is going to be rolled out regionally in the Middle East and then we would like to take this globally.”

He added that around nine million Pakistanis abroad could help make Foree (which is the Urdu language word for ‘immediately’) a globally downloaded app.

Hashwani said that the digital payment solution, regulated by the State Bank of Pakistan, would help overseas Pakistanis remit cash back home directly through the app, without the involvement of an agent or bank, and at minimum charge.

“Remittances will be one of the biggest areas we’re focusing on. For Pakistani diaspora living outside, remittances have always been a challenge,” he added, saying the app would help individuals and businesses regularize cash payments.

The app will also help boost e-commerce in the country and allow people to shop online from international brands and companies through real-time payments.

The project had been set up with a seed investment, Hashwani said, and future expansion would be undertaken by working with other global companies and venture capitalists willing to invest in Pakistan. Hashwani’s family conglomerate, Hashoo Group, is already a major player in the hospitality and oil and gas sectors.

Foree’s management estimates the payment solution will help create at least 100,000 jobs in Pakistan alone in the next two years and create points of sales (POS) not only in cities, but also in far-flung areas of the country as people won’t rely only on cash to make purchases.