While the current Naira redesign policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria is making operations of Point-of Sale Operators (POS) difficult due to scarcity of the new notes, a vendor has found a way to continue her business seamlessly.
Gift Akpan, a POS vendor based in Kubwa, Abuja, has found a smart way to ensure that her cash transacting shop is kept open.
A graduate of accounting from Akwa Ibom State, Ms. Akpan told THE WHISTLER that she started the POS business after her compulsory National Youth Service Corps due to the situation in the Nigerian
labour market.
As a POS operator, she said she operates a personal account which has a N500,000 daily withdrawal limit set by the new CBN policy, but added that banks were not paying over the counter while ATM daily limit is N20,000.
She said the policy has made POS operations tougher due to lack of the new notes.
While the Naira swap remains a big challenge to most POS vendors, Ms. Akpan is doing good business.
After getting tired of queuing up at the bank daily for upward of 8 hours without getting cash, she said, “I told myself that there has to be another way, so I thought to speak to the account department of my
church, the Apostolic Church.
“ I was so relieved when I could get cash from the church after the service and then transfer to the church account.”
According to her, the idea was a win -win plan for her business and the church as they needed not to go to the crowded banks to deposit and she also no longer had to stay on long ATM queues to get money to run her business.
But Ms. Akpan’s plan to do same with other churches did not pay off. She said, “I reached out to other churches where I had friends to speak to the account department but I have not gotten any positive feedback yet. I decided to go to big superstores, but I am asked to pay for any cash I am going to be getting.
“I did my calculation and saw that I will be at loss because I can’t even imagine Nigerians paying such outrageous charges to get their money. “
To keep up with business, she started selling data, DSTV subscription, and cashless businesses.
“Instead of closing down totally I now sell cards, data subscriptions, cable TV subscriptions, and transfers with my POS.
“Most people that go to market send the account details of people they’re buying things from to me and I send the money at a charge. Though there is nothing like having cash to give people, I’m happy
I’m not losing out totally.”
