CekAja Provides EWA Solution, Partnering with Wagely

Startups marketplace financial product CekAja and startup EWA Wagely announced a strategic partnership in order to accelerate the realization of the financial welfare of workers in Indonesia. On this occasion, CekAja now provides products from Wagely through integration motor, to reach more new users and provide more value.

In an official statement, Co-Founder & CEO wagely Tobias Fisher conveyed, to make life better for low to middle income workers, it is necessary to establish synergies within the financial ecosystem in order to create positive change on a much larger scale.

"We are ready to work with CekAja and its corporate partners to provide workers with the solutions they need to pay and meet their living needs, strengthen financial literacy, and ultimately improve their financial well-being," said Fischer, Monday (26/9).

CekAja Commercial Director Kailas Nath Raina added that the company is excited to partner with Wagely because it has values ​​and transparency that simultaneously supports financial inclusion for the people of Indonesia.

“Millions of people across the country have used our technology and services, and our partnership with Wagely allows us to continue to add new financial services that impact and make a real difference to the lives of many people,” said Raina.

In the early stages of this partnership, it was directed to support workers in the manufacturing sector, one of the largest sectors that absorbs around 18,7 million workers.

Wagely is an alternative to who play in the consumer business, generally with stifling interest. This startup offers access to the salary that employees have earned any time before the payday date arrives. This initiative has a positive impact on the company in its efforts to increase retention, increase attractiveness, create higher productivity and engagement.

Wagely quotes from a survey published by Mercer that the last two years have not been easy for companies around the world. The survey found that most companies in Southeast Asia including Indonesia experienced a higher employee turnover rate, especially at the mid-career level when compared to previous years.

As many as 55% of companies stated employee dissatisfaction with salary as the main cause, followed by the ability of employees to get better benefits in other companies by 46%.

In addition, companies in Indonesia tend to experience employee turnover in the weeks following the Eid holiday, and a study from LinkedIn released before the pandemic showed that 1 in 10 Indonesian employees changed jobs after Hari Raya Idul Fitri. This phenomenon has become a tough challenge for companies to retain their employees.

Since its inception in 2020, it is claimed that Wagely has been used by more than 100 companies including British American Tobacco, Ranch Market, Adaro Energy, Medco Energi, Mustika Ratu, and many more.

The startup announced its expansion to Bangladesh in October last year. The fifth largest country in Asia provides considerable opportunities with more than 4,5 million workers in the Ready-Made Garment (RMG) industry. These workers are also affected by the pandemic which results in high financial pressures so that it has a big impact on producers.

CheckAja's Progress

CekAja started its presence in 2014 as a financial aggregator that provides a variety of financial products, such as credit cards, loans, savings, investments, and others. The development of CekAja with the ability to collect data, decided the company to build a subsidiary in the field of credit scoring called CekSkor (PT Puncak Access Finansial).

Then, at the end of last year, CekAja's parent, C88 Financial Technologies, announced rebrand became Cax Technologies (re: cakes). Caxe is an anagram of the various B2B fintech products of its Southeast Asian subsidiary. The solutions remain focused on data, analytics, credit risk management, digital loan automation, regtech, and digital sales, targeting B2B consumers.

When reported, this group of companies has more than 400 employees spread across Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Australia, and China. Especially in Indonesia, Caxe has a financial product marketplace business, CekAja.

CekAja co-founder JP Ellis resigned from his position in August 2022. Ellis currently serves at McKinsey & Company as an Expert Associate Partner. Now the highest position in CekAja is held by Kailas Nath Raina.