Norbert’s Story

Nobert is a 32 year old refugee from Uganda who identifies himself as part of the LGBTQIA+ community. He used to work as an Uber driver but lost his job when his boss discovered his sexual orientation. Currently his only source of income are a series of personal items that he sells for money. He uses DFS to receive money from clients who live far away, he also transacts with DFS from time to time.

Setting up his DFS account was not an easy process. As a refugee, Norbert was using a borrowed sim card and did not have his own sim card so needed to register for one in order to use a DFS.

“Oh the first SIM card I got that time for us it was not easy to get a line as refugees so I go there in town and I found an agent I said now I need a SIM card he said your ID does not allow and I said of course and by the time I even had the ID so I gave the lady money I gave her 10,000 instead of three or five I gave her 10,000 and she gave me the line which is already registered so I took the line and I started  working by that time that is how I got my first line” - Norbert

However, the sim-card agents in his community refused to support him due to his sexual orientation. However, he persevered as the need for DFS was imminent to grow his business. One day he heard about a new phone service in a different community, he decided to go there to get onboarded as he felt that he would face little discrimination within that community. He has since been able to enjoy DFS services since.