Every year, millions of Muslims travel to Saudi Arabia for Umrah, but pilgrims from Nigeria and Niger often face a familiar challenge the moment they arrive: difficulty accessing Saudi riyals. Currency restrictions, volatile FX markets, and the shortcomings of travel support schemes like the Basic Travel Allowance routinely leave travellers stranded or dependent on costly informal agents. This long-standing financial hurdle is what UmrahCash, a religion-focused fintech platform founded in 2024, is working to solve.
UmrahCash allows pilgrims to deposit money in naira or CFA franc before travelling and then collect Saudi riyals from Hausa-speaking agents in Mecca and Medina. Its CEO, William Phelps, argues that the platform is addressing a gap that traditional financial players have ignored for years, especially as Saudi Arabia transitions rapidly toward digital payments, reaching 79% cashless transactions in 2024, while millions of visiting pilgrims still prefer to transact with physical cash. He believes the fintech’s simple, familiar user interface and in-person cash model reflect the financial habits of northern Nigerians, who make up the majority of pilgrims.
The company has expanded beyond Nigeria, launching operations in Niger in March 2025 and Indonesia later that same year. Indonesia’s advanced digital payments ecosystem gives UmrahCash room to test additional offerings such as savings products, instalment plans, and potential credit tools tailored to travel operators. Phelps says better regulations, stronger purchasing power, and a more mature fintech culture in Indonesia allow the platform to experiment in ways not yet possible in northern Nigeria.
Sharia compliance sits at the core of UmrahCash’s operations, guiding how customer funds are handled and invested. Backed by $500,000 from Adaverse, the startup positions itself as a halal-aligned alternative in a market where formal Islamic banks have struggled to build reach or compelling products. Phelps argues that Islamic finance remains an untapped opportunity in Nigeria’s predominantly Muslim north, where many consumers rely on platforms like OPay despite a strong appetite for ethical, faith-aligned financial services.