Before 2022, the pay cycle for Nigerian employees involved getting paid at the end of the month, in contrast to the weekly or bi-weekly pay schedules seen in foreign workforces. While the sequence in Nigeria isn’t entirely a bad one, the advent of Earnipay Limited’s on-demand pay in the country’s labour scene has brought about a much-needed paradigm shift.

Though the conventional end-of-the-month payment structure has undeniable advantages, the country’s relentless economic challenges have proven—beyond any reasonable doubt—the necessity for more flexible and less insidious payment models.

Taking loans mostly comes with exploitative interest, and salary advances aren’t any better—paving the way for an on-demand pay solution—an Earnipay-heralded initiative in Nigeria that allows employees to access their accrued salaries on any day of the month.

Earnipay: What it Means, How it Works and Other Products

Earnipay is a finance and people operation company that specialises in offering employees and employers financial and people’s operations benefits.

Based in Lagos State, the fintech company has been in the beta phase since September 2021 and officially launched operations in January 2022, with the aim to offer its on-demand salary solution to 200,000 employees by the end of the year, Techcrunch reports.

“We believe in the future, everything will be on-demand. We’ve seen this in ride-hailing, food delivery and streaming services, and how we get paid is the next and most important,” Nonso Onwuzulike, the company’s Founder and Chief Executive Officer told Nairametrics in an interview two years ago.

How Earnipay’s On-demand Pay Works

The on-demand pay solution, known globally as earned wage access, is usually activated by employers who sign up their employee(s) and share necessary payroll information with Earnipay. Onboarded employees consequently have access to 50% of their accrued wages any day of the month.

On the expected payday, the employee’s previously earned salary will be deducted by Earnipay, while the balance gets disbursed to the employee.

Other Earnipay Products

Apart from its first and headliner product, Earnipay has morphed into a one-stop shop that provides finance and people’s operation services that include: payroll processing and financing, bulkpay transfers, wallet and bill payments, savings and learn–a financial education option on the company’s app.

“We are super bullish on the product that we were building. Our goal is financial wellness for all and we want to build products in line with that. We’ve taken the first step, which is affordable access,” the CEO Onwuzulike revealed the company’s product goals in a chat with Techcrunch, a month after their official launch.

Earnipay’s services can be accessed via their website, app or USSD code– *347*729.

The company celebrated its second-year anniversary in January 2024.