Jovago gets EFCC approval to fight money laundering

Jovago, the online hotel booking platform, has received a certificate from the Economic & Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to guard against money laundering and other financial crimes.

This stamp of approval will ensure that customers and partners using the Jovago.com platform are assured of the highest quality control on all financial transactions.

Users can now easily book their hotels & pay online or at the hotel as the case may be.

EFCC, established in 2004 is empowered to prevent, investigate, prosecute and penalise economic and financial crimes and is charged with the responsibility of enforcing the provisions of other laws and regulations relating to economic and financial crimes in Nigeria.

Jovago.com has in the recent past initiated other strategic partnerships like becoming the official hotel partners of Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation to accelerate tourism in Nigeria and partnering with travel reviews site, TripAdvisor and hotel site aggregator, Skyscanner.

According to Marek Zmyslowski, MD, Jovago.com, “Nigeria is a thriving tourist destination with a large number of tourist sites and attractions. Our aim is to make these places easily accessible to everyone in Nigeria by making it very convenient for people to find and book good hotels online. This is why it was very important for us to get all the necessary certifications so that our customers are happy and comfortable booking their stays with us.”

This certification comes just weeks after Jovago.com announced the incorporation of Tigo Pesa, one of the region’s mobile money transfer services, with their partnership aimed at giving its customers yet another option for efficiency on top of the available card payments and pay-on-arrival model.

“Africa is definitely moving on to the digital world, as part of this move we want to take in consideration the local market demands and habits, thus structure our strategies in response to the needs,” said Estelle Verdier, MD, Jovago Kenya.

Tigo Pesa is East Africa’s first cross-border money transfer with currency conversion and an app for the same. It’s evident that most interesting developments are taking place in mobile technology.

Commenting on the integration of Tigo Pesa with Jovago, Tigo Head of Mobile Financial Services Ruan Swanepoel said: “We are delighted to join hands with Jovago to give the customers of our two companies the convenience of paying for their hotel accommodation from the convenience of their mobile phones. This partnership is in line with our strategy to promote digital lifestyle among our customers.”