Lemonade Finance, a cross-border app which allows Africans in the diaspora to send and receive money from their home country, is now available to Ghanaians in the U.K.

Ghanaians in the U.K will be able to send remittance to their family or friends at home at the best rates on the market.

Speaking to Joy Business, Co-founder and CEO of Lemonade Finance, Ridwan Olalere stated that the launch caps a busy year for the startup, which recently announced its pre-seed funding raise of $725,000.

“We know that the U.K is a popular destination for Ghanaians but these new settlers have had a hard time when they want to send money home. It’s our mission to take this pain away with the Lemonade app because we know that the money people send back home represents critical support for friends and family,” he stated.

Meanwhile, Rian Cochran, the startup’s Co-founder and CFO, added, “sometimes, those monies are staff salaries for businesses they still have in Ghana. Knowing this detail about how Ghanaians abroad have businesses back home is crucial to what makes the Lemonade app stand out. We know that businesses rise and fall on cash flow and it is why the Lemonade app delivers on the promise of instant transfers”.

Remittance to Ghana

Despite the impact of covid-19 on global economies, remittances to Ghana shot up by 5% to US$3.6 billion last year, according to World Bank’s 2021 Migration and Development report.

With the exception of Nigeria where there was a significant decline in remittances, foreign inflows to Africa went up by 2.3%.

According to the report, Ghana was ranked second behind Africa’s most populous nation, benefiting significantly from remittance flows last year.

“Remittance flows to the region were estimated to have declined by 12.5% in 2020. The decline was almost entirely due to a 27.7% decline in remittance flows to Nigeria, which alone accounted for over 40% of remittance flows to the region.”

“Excluding Nigeria, remittance flows to Sub-Saharan African increased by 2.3 percent, demonstrating resilience at a time of crisis. Indeed, strong remittance growth was reported in Zambia (37%), Mozambique (16%), Kenya (9%), and Ghana (5%)”, the report added.