Since 2017, at least 10 million Muslims have travelled to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, yearly—except during the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021—to perform Umrah, a voluntary pilgrimage that carries deep spiritual weight.
For many pilgrims coming from Nigeria and Niger, the journey begins long before their flights take off, with months of saving and planning. Yet the moment they land in Saudi Arabia, they have to confront a financial ordeal that is as stressful as it is predictable: unreliable access to hard currency.
Pilgrims from West Africa have struggled for years with currency restrictions at home and unpredictable FX markets. Converting naira to Saudi riyals often means dealing with informal agents and inflated black market rates. State programmes, such as the Basic Travel Allowance (BTA), designed to support travel allowances, fall short. Travel operators struggle to make timely payments to Saudi partners because they cannot get enough riyals. For grassroots pilgrims, being stranded without cash is so common that it has become part of the lore of the journey.
This is the pain point that UmrahCash, a religion-based fintech platform, is trying to eliminate. The startup allows pilgrims in Nigeria and Niger to deposit funds in their local currency—through bank transfers or cash deposits—ahead of travel and then pick up Saudi riyals from vetted Hausa-speaking agents who operate across the main pilgrimage cities Mecca and Medina, Saudi Arabia.
“At every level of the chain, there is a need for streamlined financial services,” UmrahCash CEO William Phelps told . “Travel agents are struggling to make payments in Saudi Arabia, state governments have to look for BTA because the CBN [Central Bank of Nigeria] cannot provide it, and the Hajj commission is unable to settle its partners in Saudi Arabia.”
Founded in 2024, UmrahCash is designed to address a problem that has been ignored for too long, according to Phelps.
How UmrahCash operates across countries
Historically, Saudi Arabia has operated a cash-driven economy. But recent government efforts have rapidly shifted the country toward digital payments, pushing it to a 79% cashless transaction rate in 2024, according to the Saudi Central Bank. The transformation has created one of the region’s most dynamic fintech environments, backed by structured regulations, clear licencing pathways, and a national push to attract global payment players.
Yet for all its digital progress, Saudi Arabia remains a destination where millions of arriving pilgrims still prefer to transact in cash the moment they land. This gap between a modernising system and the on-the-ground realities of visiting pilgrims is where UmrahCash operates, and where it believes its model is most needed.
Phelps does not believe UmrahCash is a niche product. He argues that most fintech products in Nigeria have been built with southern consumers in mind and that the financial behaviour of northern Nigerians rarely influences the design of financial technology apps. Northern states send the majority of Nigerian pilgrims to Saudi Arabia every year, and the amount of money moving through this corridor is significant. Many Nigerians also travel to Saudi Arabia outside peak seasons for work and religious tourism.
“Tech in Nigeria has traditionally been southern-focused,” he said. “But the financial habits and preferences of northern Nigerians have been overlooked.”
These patterns inform how UmrahCash operates. The app is kept intentionally simple so it feels familiar to users who are used to platforms like Opay and PalmPay, said Phelps. Pilgrims can deposit naira or CFA franc (for Nigeriens) in the company’s offices in Kano, Abuja, or Gombe. When they land in Saudi Arabia, they contact an UmrahCash agent who hands them their riyals. Phelps describes this setup as a trusted bridge for users who prefer in-person transactions.
“We created a very simple platform, UI, and UX, like OPay or PalmPay,” he said. “It is like a human ATM. The only way they are comfortable is if they can access physical cash.”
In March 2025, the startup expanded to the Niger Republic to test similar conditions in another West African Muslim-majority country. in September, it expanded into Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim country and one of the biggest sources of Umrah pilgrims globally, with ex-finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati projecting money circulating in the religious tourism economy to reach IDR 19.4 trillion ($11.5 billion) by 2030.
Indonesia has a more mature digital payments ecosystem and a clearer regulatory environment than Nigeria, which gives UmrahCash room to test more sophisticated products.
“Fintech is very normalised [in Indonesia]. Wallet-based applications are normal. Saving and credit cultures are mainstream,” Phelps said. “The trust gap is smaller, purchasing power is higher, and regulations are far clearer than what exists in Nigeria.”
He added that Indonesia allows UmrahCash to experiment with the broader technology stack in ways that northern Nigeria does not yet permit. That includes savings products, installment plans and potential credit tools for travel operators.
Funding, Sharia compliance and market strategy
Phelps was born in the UK and moved to Nigeria almost four years ago. Before launching UmrahCash, he spent time across Lagos and Kano, Nigeria, and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, working as an investment manager at Adaverse, a crypto-linked venture studio with ties to Cardano.
That background gave him insight into both West African financial constraints and Saudi Arabia’s rigid pilgrimage payment systems. In 2024, UmrahCash raised $500,000 in funding from Adaverse.
Sharia compliance shapes how the fintech startup builds and markets its services, particularly because northern Nigeria is its largest market and Kano is its operational hub in the region. Phelps said the startup ensures that customer funds and investment channels align with Islamic financial rules.
“A large part of Sharia finance is connected to productive assets. Existing lending apps cannot say the yields they return are 100% ethical in Islamic terms,” said Phelps. “We ensure that money goes strictly into Islamic-compliant investment opportunities, payment channels and flows. That is how the entire operation can be described as halal.”
Formal Islamic banks in Nigeria are missing a large opportunity, said Phelps. Northern Nigerians often prefer halal-compliant services, but he believes the banks that offer them have not built strong outreach or product depth.
“None of the existing players are taking full advantage of Sharia finance. 60% of Nigeria is Muslim, and many want to invest ethically or use banks that operate along ethical lines,” he said. “The majority of the services for saving for Hajj and Umrah or making payments to Saudi Arabia are largely inactive. No one uses them, and there is very little marketing.”
Most northern consumers rely on Opay because Islamic banks have not captured the grassroots. For Phelps, that gap leaves room for more nimble fintechs.
“What is a real shame is that the most common financial platform in the north is OPay when the opportunity for halal banking is enormous,” he said. “You cannot neglect the Islamic market. It is incredibly lucrative if you market it correctly.”
The road ahead
UmrahCash’s biggest traction remains in northern Nigeria. The startup has more than 6,000 active users who transact over $1 million monthly on the platform, according to Phelps. The fintech has signed agreements with several northern state governments that depend on it for managing FX needs for pilgrims, including travel agents in Abuja and Kano who rely heavily on the service.
Phelps did not disclose revenue or profit figures but said the startup is building its financial model with scale in mind. The fintech is also considering acquiring a microfinance banking licence in Nigeria to hold customer deposits, deepen its financial services to Muslims, and increase competition with existing regional banks, though Phelps says that plan is not yet in motion.
“You cannot, as a startup, focus on one business model for the entire lifecycle of the business,” said Phelps. “You need to consider what is active, how else revenue can be generated and what trends can be explored.”
As its Indonesian market grows, UmrahCash plans to embed savings, lending, credit scoring and merchant payment options into its platform. In Nigeria, the focus remains on deepening customer trust, expanding its presence in Kano and partnering more closely with state governments and travel operators.
The startup is exploring how to improve automation in its FX management and is considering future expansion to Pakistan and Bangladesh—markets where Islamic identity, cash reliance and FX pressures mirror Nigeria’s environment, said Phelps.
Ultimately, Phelps sees UmrahCash becoming the financial backbone of religious travel for emerging markets. The startup aims to support pilgrims not only when they pick up cash in Saudi Arabia, but throughout their saving and planning process at home.
