UmrahCash Races to Fix Africa’s Pilgrimage Cash Nightmare

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Every year since 2011 (except for the COVID-disrupted 2020 and 2021 seasons), at least 10 million Muslims from across the globe have travelled to Mecca to perform Umrah. This lesser but meaningful pilgrimage can be undertaken at any time.

For Nigerian pilgrims, the spiritual journey often starts with disciplined saving and meticulous planning months in advance. But the moment their planes touch down in the Kingdom, a familiar nightmare begins: securing usable cash in Saudi riyals becomes a frustrating, expensive, and sometimes dangerous ordeal.

Strict capital controls at home, volatile black-market rates, and chronic dollar shortages have long punished West African travellers. The Central Bank of Nigeria’s Basic Travel Allowance (BTA) is perennially inadequate, informal bureau de change agents overcharge mercilessly, and even licensed tour operators struggle to settle Saudi partners on time. Pilgrims stuck in Mecca or Medina with no money are so common that they are now part of pilgrimage folklore.

This exact friction is what UmrahCash, a Sharia-compliant fintech startup launched in 2024, exists to erase.

TechCabal reports that UmrahCash lets pilgrims in Nigeria and Niger deposit naira or CFA francs, via bank transfer or over-the-counter cash, long before departure. Once they arrive in the Holy Cities, they simply message a vetted, Hausa-speaking UmrahCash agent and collect crisp Saudi riyal banknotes in person.

“At every link of the pilgrimage value chain, there is acute financial stress,” UmrahCash founder and CEO William Phelps said. “Travel agents are unable to pay Saudi hotels, state governments are scrambling for BTA that the CBN has not released, and even the National Hajj Commission is delayed in settling payments to its counterparts in the Kingdom.”

Saudi Arabia itself has sprinted toward cashless transactions, hitting 79% digital payments in 2024, according to its central bank, and now boasts one of the world’s most enabling fintech regulatory environments. Yet millions of visiting pilgrims still demand physical cash the moment they land, creating a stubborn last-mile gap that UmrahCash bridges with human agents it calls “walking ATMs”.

Phelps insists UmrahCash is anything but niche. Northern Nigeria sends the overwhelming majority of the country’s roughly 100,000 annual pilgrims, and the northward flow of pilgrimage-related money is enormous. Most Nigerian fintech apps, he argues, are designed by and for southern, urban, digitally native users, leaving the cash-loving, trust-sensitive northern market chronically underserved.

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That insight shapes everything about the product: an intentionally bare-bones interface that mimics OPay and PalmPay, physical cash-in points in Kano, Abuja and Gombe, and zero reliance on cards or digital wallets in Saudi Arabia because “that’s simply not how our users feel safe”.

The company expanded to Niger in March 2025 and entered Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim nation, in September 2025. Indonesia’s mature digital payment culture and clearer regulations now serve as a laboratory for savings products, installment plans, and credit tools that Northern Nigeria is not yet ready for.

Backed by a $500,000 cheque from Cardano-linked accelerator Adaverse, UmrahCash operates its entire treasury and investment pipeline under strict Sharia rules, something CEO Phelps believes neither conventional neobanks nor Nigeria’s legacy Islamic banks have properly exploited.

Today, the startup claims over 6,000 active users moving more than $1 million monthly, formal partnerships with several northern state governments for BTA management, and a growing footprint among Kano- and Abuja-based tour operators.

Longer term, Phelps wants microfinance banking licences in Nigeria, deeper product suites in Indonesia, and eventual expansion into Pakistan and Bangladesh. His ultimate vision is to become the default financial layer for the entire global Umrah and Hajj economies outside of emerging markets.

Nigeria is one of the world’s top senders of Umrah and Hajj pilgrims, sending typically 95,000–120,000 combined annually in non-pandemic years, almost all departing from the Muslim-majority north. Yet the country’s perennial foreign-exchange crisis has turned what should be a sacred journey into a logistical and financial gauntlet.

Black-market premiums routinely exceed 50–70% above the official rate, licensed BDC operators are starved of dollars, and the CBN’s BTA allocation (currently $4,000 per Hajj pilgrim, far less for Umrah) is delayed or simply unavailable. Pilgrims routinely carry wads of naira to Saudi Arabia to exchange at hotel lobbies or with street hustlers—at rip-off rates and considerable personal risk.

State governments in the north, which subsidise thousands of seats every year, end up smuggling cash or wiring it through convoluted channels, often arriving late and inflating the overall cost of the pilgrimage package for everyone.

The timing of UmrahCash’s rise coincides with one of the most turbulent periods in the history of religious travel in Nigeria. Between 2024 and 2025, the Naira’s volatility created a crisis for the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON). Hajj fares, which were historically stable, saw unprecedented hikes—jumping from roughly ₦4.5 million to over ₦8 million in mere weeks due to the Naira’s devaluation against the Dollar and Riyal. These developments forced the government to intervene with controversial subsidies to prevent mass cancellations.

This was due to the systemic failure of traditional banking channels, specifically the BTA system, to provide adequate liquidity. Thousands of pilgrims were left in limbo, having paid initial deposits that lost value overnight. UmrahCash addresses this specific gap: the failure of the formal banking sector to hedge currency risk for grassroots travellers. By effectively “derisking” the currency exchange before the pilgrim leaves Nigeria, it stabilises an otherwise chaotic financial need.

The outbound market in Nigeria and Africa is expected to stabilise thanks to UmrahCash. Religious tourism is Nigeria’s largest outbound tourism sector. By removing the “fear of being stranded”, fintechs like UmrahCash ensure the traveller pipeline remains robust. If pilgrims cannot access cash, they stop travelling, which would bankrupt hundreds of local travel agencies in Kano, Kaduna, and Lagos.

Traditionally, Hajj operators acted as informal currency smugglers to pay for hotels and buses in Saudi Arabia. This was risky and legally grey. A formal digital corridor allows these operators to pay Saudi vendors transparently, professionalising the African religious tourism industry and increasing trust with their partners.

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FAQs

1. What exactly is UmrahCash?  

UmrahCash is a Sharia-compliant mobile platform that enables pilgrims to deposit local currency (naira or CFA) in Nigeria/Niger before their journey and collect physical Saudi riyals from vetted Hausa-speaking agents in Mecca and Medina.

2. Is UmrahCash safe and halal? 

Yes. All funds and investment channels are certified Sharia-compliant, customer money never touches interest-bearing accounts, and agents are background-checked members of the Nigerian/Nigerien community in Saudi Arabia.

3. How is it different from just using OPay or my bank card in Saudi Arabia?  

Most pilgrims—especially from the north—do not trust or own international cards, and many Saudi merchants still demand cash. UmrahCash delivers physical riyals instantly without ATM queues, failed POS transactions, or exorbitant card fees.

4. Do I still get the official BTA from the government?

Yes. UmrahCash is complementary: many state governments and licensed tour operators now route part or all of their BTA through UmrahCash to guarantee on-time settlement with Saudi partners.

5. Is the service available outside Nigeria?

Currently live in Niger and Indonesia, with Pakistan and Bangladesh next in line. Anyone travelling from these countries to Umrah or Hajj can sign up.