UAE families can now pay school fees and rent payments through digital direct debits after a regional fintech introduced new services. The UAE’s first paperless direct debit marketplace, Direct Debit System, has partnered with fellow fintech start-up, Zenda, to simplify the payment of tuition and education-related services through an automated, digitized process.
The collaboration will improve the efficiency of payment collection for education institutions, while offering parents the flexibility to pay fees monthly.
UAE school fees
As other industries accelerate the shift to automation and digitization, the education sector lags, with half of payments still being made through cash or cheques.
The new partnership will integrate Zenda’s user-friendly payment app with the paperless Direct Debit System to enable parents to settle school bills with pay-now and pay-later options.
The combined technology has been specifically developed to integrate with platforms used in the educational sector to facilitate end-to-end digitization, improving controls and cash-flow predictability, and eliminating the need for manual reconciliations. At the same time, it provides families with the opportunity to manage household budgets more effectively through customized recurring payment plans.
The collaboration comes as both Direct Debit System and Zenda grow their operations in the UAE and beyond. In the past three years, Zenda has expanded across five countries, working with more than 400 schools, and serving more than 100,000 families. In its home market of the UAE, Zenda commands more than 30 per cent of the market share.
Co-Founder Haseeb Ahmed said: “Our aspiration at Zenda is to redesign financial services, contextualized for solving specific use cases of the sector, and in creating a one-stop experience for the parent.”
Having officially launched in September 2023, Direct Debit System has already collaborated with several notable clients and recently announced a strategic partnership with real estate management firm, Keyper. The system is backed by the UAE Central Bank and was one of the earliest entities to use UAEPASS, making the entire process paperless.
Founder and CEO Ummair Butt said: “This agreement with Zenda is another important milestone in our mission to provide an alternative to the age-old practice of bulk cheque payments.”
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Zenda Co-Founder Raman Thiagarajan said: “We are very excited to collaborate with Direct Debit System, a pioneer in offering a fully digital recurring payments platform in the UAE. Our services will help education institutions in offering flexibility to their parents, while enhancing their collection efficiency at the same time.”
