Macalla has extensive footprints across the world. What are your experiences in Africa compared to other continents?
Informa states that ‘Unbanked’ consumers in developing markets will help grow figures of mobile banking services worldwide to 977 million users by 2013. This is a dramatic increase from approximately 67 million at the end of 2008.
Africa is a very large part of that unbanked community and our experiences confirm that. Because of the need for mobile money, Africa is the continent with the most number of mobile money implementations – all of which have been successful.
One of Macalla’s customers, MoneyText, enables UK resident Ghanaians to top up the mobile phones of friends and family in Ghana. . It too, has proven to be a popular service and plans for expansion are underway. They are extending the service to include cash out services also.
Your platform works, cross border but are they acceptable in Africa with little or no regulation for Mobile money?
The Macalla Platform works anywhere. It can be set up to address any specific country regulatory issues that may be requested by our customers.
Macalla services are very easy to use, is that the major attraction for partners?
Ease of use to one of the key attractions. The others are the speed in which it can be implemented, the wide range of services from a single platform and the choice of local or hosted deployment.
The Macalla Platform enables a wide range of innovative mobile financial services. All of these services can be undertaken both nationally and internationally as the Macalla Platform is multi-lingual and multi-currency. Most of our clients used a phased approach when implementing mobile financial services. This means that the first phase can be up and running in under 2 months.
Your platform can mobilise banks and Mobile operators, in your opinion which of them seems to be more on top of the game?
They are equal. Mobile money is one of THE most sought after applications by both operators and banks. Interestingly enough, each approach the project in a similar way. Operators might start with mobile top-up and peer to peer airtime transfer and then move to more advanced financial applications. Banks also tend to start with enabling mobile top up, both on their websites and ATMs. After this, operators move towards more generic mobile commerce and remittance applications. Banks tend to enable SMS banking eg, balance enquiry, notifications, account transfer. One of the most popular applications is “Emergency Cash” which basically is cash withdrawal from ATM without the use of an ATM card.
Are we seeing a hype for Mobile Money or it has come to stay in Africa.
It has come to stay – it’s not hype. Sending money using your mobile is already happening. And over the next couple of years it will become commonplace. The GSMA has launched an initiative which will make mobile money available to the unbanked and those living on less than US$2 per day. Africa is one of the key regions and Macalla is an active member of the working group involved in this initiative.
In a place like Africa with one of the lowest literacy rates in the world, how are they managing with SMS based Mobile Money applications?
SMS based mobile money transactions are extremely easy to use. If you can use a phone, you can use this type of service.
Your views about Mobile money regulation in Africa?
Regulation is obviously very important. The Macalla Platform of course adheres to all necessary regulations including KYC. I have noted that the central banks are starting to make plans with regards to mobile money regulation. This is very good news as sometimes the lack of regulation can slow down the implementation of projects.
Biography
Niall O’Cleirigh – Chief Executive Officer & co-founder
Niall O’Cleirigh is co-founder and CEO of Macalla. Prior to establishing Macalla, Niall held posts as General Manager, Chief Technical Officer and Head of Business Incubation within CSK Software Ltd, a global IT supplier to the financial markets. As a result of heading a company that has been providing leading edge wireless products for a number of years, Niall has now become an established international spokesman on wireless technology and solutions. He is also a member of the Irish Software Association Executive Committee. Niall has a degree in electronic engineering and a Masters Degree in Management Science.
Company overview
Founded in 1998 and headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, Macalla is an award winning supplier of mobile, financial and payment software. The Macalla Platform enables a wide range of innovative mobile payment services including top-up, bill payment, person-to-person payments, banking, cross border VAS and both national and international remittances.
The Macalla Platform is successfully deployed by banks, mobile network operators, payment intermediaries and service providers in Europe, the Middle East, the Caribbean and Africa.
Interview was Conducted by Emmanuel Okoegwale, Editor – Mobile Money Africa.
