My experience with fund transfer to TZ

Following is my experience with what I encountered in transferring funds to Tanzania. When I started the project/drive I thought it would be as simple as going to a bank and requesting them transfer the fund similar to any domestic bank transfer. Oh boy, was I in for a surprise?

I wanted to log here the details of the steps that I took for a successful transfer so that it helps someoneelse someday who may encounter similar situation. I also suspect that this is not just unique to Tanzania but to many other developing countries in Africa. I was able to confirm for few other countries including Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, etc.

On completing an excellent fund raising event and got to the goal much quicker than I had anticipated I decided to approach the bank that I had account with but then I came to know that they had stopped any international fund transfer and now using Xoom service instead. It would still have been ok using the Xoom but unfortunately Xoom doesn’t handle Tanzania either. Following is screen shot of countries they currently handle.

Then it is time to check with some other banks including CapitalOne, Bank of America and those too didn’t materialize for similar reasons. And on a suggestion I received checked PayPal and ran into same situation again!

Finally, after many hours sperad across many days of internet searches with Google and Duckduckgo I landed at a online exchange service provider (OFX) that handles the currency exchanges which I didn’t know anything about. I asked my parents to help me with and got to know how it works. We checked not only OFX but also other exchanges including WorldRemit who does Dollar to Schilling exchanges but only to one bank (Bank of Zanzibar) in TZ!

We also searched and looked into services provided by Moneygram and Western Union. Some of these services work without banks (and security that banks provide) and accepting cash and delivering cash at the destination. But they would need not only identifications but also someone actively going and collecting cash which I didn’t feel comfortable with.

OFX has been in the business for some time (circa 2002) and fund transfer are made between bank accounts. They also have good customer reviews. We opened up account with them and with my Dad’s help we were able to transfer the funds.

In short, it is not as simple as a requesting a bank to perform a fund transfer. There are many hurdles to jump over. I believe, the process can be made simpler even though there might be many environments or scenarios related to geo-political or economical conditions that raise barriers I encountered.

I am glad I know lot more now than when I began my fund-raising for children in elementary/middle school in Tanzania.

My sincere and special thanks to my parents, Mrs. Bhatt for helping along the way and successfully complete the drive.