ISLAMABAD, Jun 06 (APP): Elevate, a fintech, based in London and Dubai, has secured financing of $5 million to expand further into South Asia.
They’ve raised a total of $10 million in equity and debt from investors including Y Combinator, Goodwater, Global Founders Capital and VSQ and Since launching earlier this year, over 50,000 Freelancers and remote workers from Pakistan and more than 150,000 have signed up in total said a news release.
Having received unprecedented response from Pakistani freelancers in a very short span of time, Elevate is looking at registering over 500,000 Pakistani freelancers and remote workers facilitating them to increase their business share in the USA as well as other developed markets.
Elevate simplifies receiving USD payments by supporting free and fast deposits from US and international employers as well as platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, Paypal, Deel and Toptal.
The online spending is enabled through a virtual debit card and for sending money home Elevate offers market leading FX rates.
When customers receive payments into their Elevate accounts, the funds sit with Bangor Savings Bank, a 172-year-old bank located in Maine, United States.
Bangor Savings Bank acts as the deposit taking institution and card issuer, and because they are an FDIC-member, customer deposits are FDIC-insured up to $250,000.
This makes it the only service available for people in countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Philippines to open an FDIC-insured U.S. bank account.
Khalid Keenan, CEO of Elevate said that “Freelancing and remote work is going to be a key source of foreign income for emerging markets.
Platforms like Upwork, Fiverr and Deel have empowered talent from countries like Pakistan to compete on a global scale and earn in USD”.
Existing platforms like Payoneer have not serviced the region well with excessively high fees. Our mission at Elevate is for freelancers and remote workers to quickly and easily get paid at minimal cost so they keep as much of their hard-earned earnings as possible, Khalid added.
PESHAWAR, Jun 06 (APP): Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ali Amin Gandapur has held out assurance of removing difficulties faced by local government representatives and will create a favorable environment for the business community to encourage mutual cooperation for economic development of the province.
He expressed these views during a meeting with former governor KP, Haji Ghulam Ali and Mayor Peshawar Haji Zubair Ali here Thursday.
During the meeting, the former governor and Mayor Peshawar briefed the Chief Minister about the socio-economic situations in the province, especially Peshawar.
Haji Zubair Ali informed about the steps being taken by the city metropolitan government to alleviate the public problems despite severe shortage of funds.
He said that the provincial government should patronize the elected local body representatives so that the basic problems of the people can be solved at their doorsteps. Besides this, full support of the provincial government will be required for the solarization of tube wells, mosques and madrasas, he said.
The former governor while informing about the business community and industrial units of Peshawar in particular, said that measures should be taken for the promotion of industry and trade, recovery of sick industrial units and the relief of industrial units so that investment and employment opportunities can be created.
Assuring full cooperation, the chief minister said that construction and development of local bodies was among the top priorities. The law enforcement agencies, especially the police, are in communication to establish law and order in the province, he added.
The chief minister welcomed the proposals of Haji Ghulam Ali to promote foreign investment and create employment opportunities, including elimination of economic difficulties.
This is the mission of provincial government which will be carried out through mutual cooperation of business community, he added.
He said that plans have been made for solarization and orders are in progress, we want to see the development of Peshawar and the entire Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The former governor thanked the chief minister for giving long time and assured full cooperation in solving the problems and at the same time, congratulated the chief minister for extending the BRT route on Nasir Bagh road for public convenience.
PESHAWAR, Jun 06 (APP): Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Minister Syed Qasim Ali Shah on Thursday lauded the role of the Medical Transplantation Regulatory Authority (MTRA) in the prevention of illegal human organ transplantation activities in the province.
Addressing a ceremony on the occasion of World Transplant Day here, he said that the authority has started registration of transplant hospitals having international standard facilities.
He also appreciated the cooperation of police and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in curbing illegal transplantation in the province, adding that with the cooperation of the police and FIA, the authority has been able to stop illegal organ transplants and organ sales.
He said that at present the trend of kidney and liver transplants was increasing, noting that kidney failure occurs mainly due to diabetes and high blood pressure for which timely diagnosis and treatment were imperative.
The minister said that due to hepatitis the number of patients suffering from liver diseases in Pakistan was increasing day by day for which liver transplantation had become necessary. He pointed out that the number of liver transplantation patients has increased to 10,000 annually in the country while 1500 to 2000 transplant operations were done in the whole country.
He said that there was a difference in the supply and demand of organs for transplantation, so there was a dire need for a post-death organ donation program which was also introduced by Saudi Arabia and Iran.
He expressed the hope that a similar kind of programme would also be initiated in the country.
The Minister said that the provincial government was taking measures to modernise the intensive care units at hospitals so that the post-death organ transplant program could be made successful, adding that a donor card scheme has also been introduced for this purpose and urged people of the province to make it successful.
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