After returning to New Zealand from Asia and seeing the outdated technology available for payments here, James McEniery and Shane Marsh decided to introduce Kiwis to the world of the digital wallet through Dosh.

While living in Singapore, McEniery and Marsh were astounded by the financial technology that citizens were using every day to pay bills, their friends, and purchase goods.

These payment solutions were quickly adopted by McEniery and Marsh while in Asia, making the pair reluctant to leave the concept when they arrived back in New Zealand.

“These digital wallets allowed us to move money instantly, buy goods or services from merchants and do so much more,” explains McEniery.

“I just loved the customer experience of having the ability to go out and use my phone to basically do everything that I would normally do with my banking products.”

He adds that the user experience, convenience, and simplicity of the technology is what really excited him.

Upon returning to New Zealand, they found Kiwis were completely unaware of the technology, already “late adopters” to the idea of digital wallets.

“We’re innovative across many aspects of the community and aspects of business so why has this not happened,” says McEniery.

New Zealand’s lack of digital wallets was the catalyst that motivated the pair to introduce the concept and technology to Kiwis.

“It was a bit of a leap of faith. We thought that this was something we could bring to New Zealand, and if we are successful in launching it, we can bring these services and financial services to Kiwis who may not know there is a better way,” he adds.

Read more: Creating a social connection to personal finance.

In 2021 McEniery and Marsh created Dosh, the country’s very first 100 percent Kiwi owned digital wallet, introducing New Zealanders to instant payments via QR code or mobile number.

Dosh allows Kiwis to move their money 24/7, easy and instantly, removing the barriers that come along with established bank infrastructures that often sees a delay in money by a few hours or a few days through different banks.

McEniery says Dosh is the only company providing this service for Kiwis, with no other competitors in the market.

“Essentially, we are giving an alternative in terms of how money can be moved instantly using Dosh.”

Through the use of Dosh, Marsh adds that customers are not just moving money instantly but also moving away from the traditional way money is handled. 

Customers are not required to remember a 16-digit account number. Dosh also lessens the risk of privacy breaches that come with sharing an account number with complete strangers.

“We are giving customers greater control and visibility of their money,” says Marsh.

Off the bat, Dosh saw immediate success, especially with those aged 18 and over who were curious and looking for different ways to move money.

However, bringing an already established technology into the country was a major challenge says the pair.

“We have brought in a product that is widely used around the world to New Zealand. [It is] the first digital wallet in the market, so there is a fair degree of education and knowledge sharing [required for] these products,” says Marsh.

Marsh adds that because the concept and technology is fairly new, Dosh is putting a lot more effort in to educate, share information and work with customers to build trust.

“For us it has really been about talking to the market about digital wallets. It is the basis of what we believe will be a number of innovative services that we will continue to develop for Kiwis and make their lives easier.”

McEniery adds that educating the Kiwi population is important as many prefer the Tap & Go method or using a card.

As of right now, McEniery and Marsh have no intentions of going outside of New Zealand but will concentrate on “making Kiwi’s lives easier in terms of controlling their money”.

The pair are focused on building their platform to create more opportunities in the market for New Zealanders in terms of payments.

“There is a lot of innovation in the space of personal finance,” says Marsh.

“There are opportunities for New Zealanders to have more innovative solutions to help them manage their money.”

McEniery and Marsh are continuing to innovate across Dosh so it will become a high calibre wallet offering Kiwis more options than to just pay friends.

“The number of things that a customer can do in the Dosh app with your account in a year will be significantly greater than what they can do today.”