Sabrina Chan is MoneyGram International’s Regional Marketing Lead— Asia Pacific, South Asia and the Middle East. She has been part of MoneyGram International since February 2004. Her role and responsibilities include advertising, integrated marketing and product marketing. During her tenure, she has expanded her company to cover more regions including South Asia and the Middle East, developing and leading the regional initiatives for more than 25 countries.
Chan spoke to Onlinekhabar about MoneyGram’s future plans in Nepal and the recently launched ‘Double Your Happiness’ campaign. Excerpts
As compared to your other markets, how different is Nepal for MoneyGram?
It’s not very different. That said, we are looking at an opportunity on the remittance side in Nepal. The remittance that Nepal receives is quite high, I think around $8 billion. But we’ve now known that there are still a lot of customers overseas using ‘hundi’ way to send money home. MoneyGram feels that the market potential here is quite high and we would like to reach out to those individuals and make them aware about MoneyGram and provide services in a more efficient and affordable way.
What are MoneyGram’s plans to grow the Nepal market amidst stiff competition within the remittance industry?
MoneyGram has been working with credible partners in Nepal over the last few decades and will continue this commitment as Nepal is a very important market for us. MoneyGram receives international remittances from over 130 countries into Nepal. We are also very pleased to have supportive partners who share our vision in making the money transfer and payment service more accessible and convenient for our customers in Nepal.
How important is Nepal, to MoneyGram?
It’s quite important. One in every four households in Nepal has one member working abroad at any given time. Between 2008 and 2017, some 3.5 million work permits were issued. In Nepal, remittance spending correlates with a positive effect on education spending; it also increased years of schooling and greater educational opportunities for girls. In some areas of Nepal, remittances account for almost half of total household income. After the 2015 earthquake in Nepal, remittances almost doubled when migrant workers sent money home for reconstruction, which protected many families from faring worse fates.
So I’d say Nepal is quite important to us.
Which countries send the most money via MoneyGram?
As per our records, the US, the Middle East and Malaysia have a dominant Nepali diaspora who send the most money. Australia is slowly coming up, but still behind these countries.
South Korea and Japan are upcoming migration corridors with a surge in migration of workers so we are planning to expand to those countries next.
How is the competition in Nepal?
We are witnessing a fair level of competition here. For Nepalis, more the competition, lesser the cost of services as all fight for the same business. It makes sure that we innovate and introduce new services to the market. Nevertheless, there are threats from illegal channels like ‘hundis’ as they are called so. The illegal channels are posing a very big challenge for us across South Asia.
Can you provide some insights on the marketing initiatives in Nepal?
Nepal has been one of the key growth markets for MoneyGram and we ensure that we remain top of mind amongst the Nepali diaspora in Nepal or outside for serving them with their sending and receiving needs. We focus on key initiatives throughout the year in Nepal and always ensure that we add value to our consumers by gratifying them during consumer campaigns. We also heavily invest in all media channels to maximise awareness of consumer campaigns in Nepal and key countries with dominant Nepali diaspora. For senders, we try to provide them with competitive fee whereas for receivers we gratify them for receiving with MoneyGram
What was your key insight when planning for ‘Double Your Happiness’ campaign?
Money is the best form of gratification and will help our consumers double their happiness back home. The campaign has been derived through key insights and is true to MoneyGram’s commitment to consumer-focused initiatives. This Dashain, MoneyGram intends to make the celebrations for its consumers brighter and merrier by giving a lucky few a chance to win twice the amount received.
