With COVID-19 social distancing and stay-at-home requirements, more and more Pakistanis need training and opportunities to earn incomes online and support themselves, their families, and Pakistan’s economy. 

Through an Innovation Grant provided by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Small and Medium Enterprise Activity (SMEA), one Pakistani company is providing online earning opportunities through its technology platform.

The company, Techlets, is providing its “Walee - Pakistan’s Everyday Trade App” platform to its user base of more than 50,000 influencers and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to promote products and services to their followers and earn commissions. 

The app is currently used in 230 cities across Pakistan, and helps urban and rural users work with brands and earn a monthly income to support their families. The commissions they earn are credited in the app’s comprehensive digital payment system.  

“COVID-19 has presented SMEs, daily wage workers, and the working class in general with unprecedented challenges,” said Techlets CEO M. Ahsan Tahir. “Walee, through the support of USAID’s SMEA program, is providing remote earning opportunities from the safety of homes, to more than 50,000 influencers across 230 cities in Pakistan. In these testing times, Walee stands with its influencers and SMEs, and only together we can fight and win.”

Apart from providing income-earning opportunities, Walee recently partnered with a leading global consumer goods company, Reckitt and Benckiser (Dettol), to launch a national #HandWashChallenge to create awareness on proper handwashing to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in Pakistan. To ensure influencers are working efficiently on various campaigns and earning their commissions, Techlets is providing online training and bootcamps to both influencers and SMEs. This campaign, hosted on the Walee app, has generated over 2 million responses. 

“This is an excellent platform for young influencers like me, we work and deliver content in the morning and get paid the same day,” said Hassan Abid, one of the influencers. “In these unfortunate circumstances, it's difficult for us to find conventional brand deals, but with Walee, it's easy and fun.” 

For more than half a century, the United States has been the largest contributor to global health security, saving lives all over the planet. The U.S. has led the fight against Ebola, and supported countries battling HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other infectious diseases, including leading the fight against COVID-19.

With more than $12 million in new contributions, the United States is collaborating with the Government of Pakistan to help stop the spread of COVID-19 nationwide and care for affected people.  All of these contributions were identified as top priority needs by Pakistani authorities, and they are supported from the generosity of the American people. Over the past 20 years, the United States has invested more than $18.4 billion in Pakistan, including $1.1 billion in health assistance.