Nigerian fintech company AidaPay has introduced SmartShare, a digital platform designed to help businesses manage airtime and data distribution more efficiently while reducing unnecessary communication expenses. The platform provides an alternative to the manual processes many organisations use to purchase and distribute mobile airtime and data to employees, customers and other beneficiaries. By improving transaction monitoring and expenditure control, SmartShare aims to help businesses minimise waste, simplify administration and make better use of their communication budgets.
The platform allows organisations to create a pool of airtime or data and distribute it to beneficiaries through a shareable link and a six character access code. Rather than paying for every allocation upfront, businesses are charged when recipients successfully claim their airtime or data. Funds associated with unclaimed allocations remain available until the distribution is closed or expires. The system also identifies recipients’ mobile networks from their phone numbers, enabling the distribution process without requiring beneficiaries to download the AidaPay application or register for an account.
SmartShare also offers features that allow organisations to control how beneficiaries access their allocations. Businesses can restrict claims to approved phone numbers, limit the number of claims per person or device, establish intervals between claims and monitor transactions in real time. These functions could benefit companies managing staff communication allowances, brands running promotional campaigns and organisations distributing airtime or data as incentives. The service currently supports data claims across MTN, Airtel and Glo, while airtime claims are available on MTN.
AidaPay founder Musefiu Agbeniga said SmartShare was developed to address the financial and administrative challenges associated with distributing airtime and data manually. The company said the service is available through its Android and iOS applications, with businesses able to create distributions starting from ₦1,000. As Nigerian organisations increasingly depend on mobile connectivity for daily operations, SmartShare offers a technology driven approach to managing communication expenses. Its success, however, will depend on the reliability of transactions, effective fraud prevention and the extent to which businesses adopt the platform as part of their cost management strategies.