Mobile Money Africa

MTN on Thursday launched its Mobile Money Train in Bolgatanga with a call on the public especially businesses, to take advantage of the money transfer system to expand their businesses. Mrs. Lucy Awuni, Upper East Deputy Regional Minister, who launched the facility, noted that it would not only quicken the tempo of business transactions, but will also protect business persons who carry huge sums of money on them while travelling.

The mobile money transfer enables a customer to send or receive money on his or her phone, buy airtime and pay utility bills while at home, office or market. It is said to be time-saving, less risky and controls other important resources, as it is convenient.

Mrs. Awuni said the Government would continue to create and maintain an enabling environment for existing and prospective investors in the telecommunication business, to enable them provide a reliable and cost-effective world-class service for the Ghanaian populace. She noted that the good business environment would also encourage healthy competition among the operators of the telecommunication venture, thereby resulting in the growth as well as innovations in the industry. She however said, “Most people have been complaining about the poor network of telecommunication providers in the sense that one may at times find it difficult in reaching the intended recipient.

“In some situations, the call will be connected to the recipient but one would not be able to hear any word, whilst the credit continues to run”. Mr. Abdul Majeed Rufai, Senior Manager of the Mobile Money Implementation (MMI), explained that the mobile money service, provided mobile phone users with the convenient option of opening and operating an electric wallet or a full bank account primarily from their phones, saying that would make it possible for one to have both an electronic wallet and a full bank account in operation.

He described it as convenient, accessible, safe and trustworthy, and said MTN was giving her customers an opportunity to catch up with the latest trend in the financial world. The service is linked up with nine banks in the country. They include, Ecobank, Fidelity Bank, GT Bank, CAL Bank, Stanbic Bank, UBA, Merchant Bank and Intercontinental Bank.

Roamware’s innovative mobile financial solution enables ATM withdrawals without a physical cash card

Roamware, a global leader in mobile roaming solutions and financial services, announces the global availability of Cardless ATM. The service enables bank customers to withdraw cash from an ATM without the use of a cash card. Cardless ATM can be used in case of loss or theft of a cash card as well as to send money to friends or family at home or abroad.
Cardless ATM is already in use in Europe. permanent tsb (PTSB) launched the service in Ireland as part of its mobile banking solutions in 2009. Branded as ‘Emergency Cash’, the service allows customers to send €100 to anyone in Ireland simply by sending an SMS. Upon receiving the text message, the recipient may go to any PTSB cash point to withdraw the emergency cash – without the need for an ATM card. Registered customers can request payment five times per month up to a maximum of €500 (€100 per withdrawal). The account holder is charged €2 per withdrawal.

“Emergency Cash is one of the many ways we are differentiated in the market,” said Eamon Martin, Online Development and Mobile Banking Manager at permanent tsb. “And it gives our customers peace of mind – knowing they still have access to cash if their card is stolen.”
“There is great interest in this product from banks around the world,” said Avnish Chauhan, Executive Vice President at Roamware. “It is particularly of interest in Asia and Africa where banks plan on using it for mobile money purposes, that is to send money to friends and family. This is a cost saving solution that could potentially complement ‘no frills’ bank account offering to underbanked and unbanked communities in developing economies,” added Avnish.
Cardless ATM is one of many mobile financial products that Roamware has made available to banks and mobile operators since the acquisition of mobile financial services developer Macalla Software Ltd in 2009. Other m-commerce and mobile banking solutions offered by Roamware include credit transfers, international remittance, adding prepaid minutes, person to person transactions and bill payment.

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About Roamware, Inc.
Roamware, Inc. is a leading provider of roaming and mobile financial services. The company is the global leader in mobile roaming solutions with an estimated 60 per cent market share of the voice and data roaming segments for GSM, 3G and CDMA technology platforms. Roamware m-commerce and mobile banking solutions have been successfully deployed by major banks and global operators around the world, including: Vodafone, permanent tsb and Bank of Ireland. Its solutions range from credit transfers, international remittance, person to person transactions to top-up and bill payment. Roamware solutions are deployed across 150 countries with over 400 global mobile operators as customers. The company is headquartered in San Jose with operations in Brussels, Dubai, Dublin, Bangalore, Mumbai, New Delhi, Singapore, Johannesburg, Amman and Hong Kong. http://www.roamware.com
About permanent tsb.

permanent tsb is the retail banking division of Irish Life & Permanent plc formed by the merger of Irish Permanent and Irish Life in April 1999. This merger brought together Ireland’s largest home loans provider and the country’s largest life insurance company. www.permanenttsb.ie

As part of efforts to bridge the gap between the banked and the unbanked population of Nigeria, eTranzact in conjunction with International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, have embarked on a pilot project for the rural areas in Nigeria called Rural Telephony Project (RTP) MobileMoney.

RTP MobileMoney powered by eTransact is an initiative designed to bank the unbanked populace in Nigeria and Africa.
This program is built on the high mobile phone penetration and low banking coverage in Africa.

Traditional banks tend to locate their branches away from poor communities, which limit their ability to access banking services.
The mobile banking program for the unbanked seeks to improve access to banking services through the use of mobile phones.
eTranzact is Nigeria’s first award winning multi-application and multi-channel electronic transaction switching and payment processing platform.

The company has operations in Nigeria, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Cote d’Ivoire, South Africa and UK and aims to provide Nigerians, Africans
and ultimately the world with cutting edge payment solutions.

IFC provides investment and advisory services to help businesses in the developing world meet the challenges of the global marketplace.
IFC is presently working with three mobile payment companies, Wizzit for South Africa, Ferlo for Dakar and eTranzact for Nigeria to run the MobileMoney programme in Africa.

RTP MobileMoney is being run with 3 Micro finance institutions, DEC, SEAP & Oghene with 50 Village Phone operators (VPOs) located in remote communities

First Bank of Nigeria is providing the banking backbone, as stipulated by the Central Bank of Nigeria guidelines, while three microfinance Institutions partners – Development Exchange Centre (Bauchi in the North), Socio Economic Advancement Program (Kwara in the West) and OGENE (Enugu in the South) are serving as touch points for the unbanked.

MTN Nigeria is also on board to provide communication gateway for the transactions. Each MFI would have distinguishing mobile account number schemes. This will identify every mobile account holder created based on their MFI’s.

The eTranzact MobileMoney Platform is a multi network capable and interface seamlessly with the third party payment schemes and the product has been specifically designed to improve access to finance to rural customers or those with little or no access to banks.

mobiFEST 2010 – Reaching the M-Generation.


University of Lagos
Multi Purpose Hall A,B and C
AND
Afe Babalola Conference Center.
August 17th and 18th

Nigeria’s first and largest mobile application event will be in Lagos less than seven weeks and a key focus for this inaugural event is not surprisingly – Mobile applications in a leading market in Africa where mobile subscription level has surpassed the 50% mark and still counting. The event is targeted at the M-Generation which are upwardly mobile and are ready to go.

According to a recent study in Nigeria by Pyramid Research,it finds that mobile services have positively influenced every aspect of Nigerian mobile end users’ lives. Mobile services are:helping people access information,creating business opportunities,lowering transaction costs and enhancing social interaction.. “The study concludes that mobile services have ample reach in Nigeria, with mobile subscriptions in the country reaching almost 73 million by the end of 2009, resulting in a mobile penetration rate of roughly 50 percent of the population, ” says Badii Kechiche, Senior Analyst at Pyramid Research.

The mobile applications Pavilion at MobiFest 2010, which will run from August 17 to August 18 at the hub of Nigeria’s most concentrated Youth market,YABA – Lagos and will be hosted at the University of Lagos Auditorium with captive student population of 35,000,a kilometer away from Yabatech with 22,000, Lagos university teaching hospital – 10,000, Federal college of Education 18,000, Lagos state university, Yaba campus with 8,000 and more than 7 federal government organizations within 4 kilometer range.

The expo will host :

Independent mobile application developers / vendors.
Device manufacturers.
Content providers.
Integrators and Aggregators.
SMS services providers.
Location based services.

Covering mobile financial services,Mobile Insurance, entertainment, enterprise solutions, mobile govt,tracking services, Health,informational,who will showcase their latest mobile applications and solutions to a ready and willing segment.

There will also be Showcase highlights sessions from leading sponsors and also connect young innovative developers in touch with industry experts and decision makers.

Developers Hub

Developers hub is an “event within an event” at Mobifest 2010 that will present a unique opportunity to tap into local resources that is available in Nigeria and connect with young innovative players that are striving to enter the mobile applications market.
The developers hub Showcase at Mobifest is an area on the show floor dedicated to young innovators demonstrating and displaying their innovative mobile applications.

Who should attend?

Marketing and communication agencies that needs to understand the growing importance of mobile applications to their industry.
Financial,Insurance Institutions and Micro finance Banks seeking for cost effective mobile Banking and financial solutions.
Religious,NGO and Government agencies seeking new innovative channels to engage the citizens.
Application developers interested in staying current on the latest developments from the largest platforms.
Content providers seeking new, directed networking opportunities.
Operators who want to find that next cutting edge app that will help attract and retain customers.
Device makers and platform owners trying to recruit the best app developers.

Mobifest 2010,will be the largest event focused exclusively on the mobile applications ecosystem and will attracts thousands of mobile product enthusiasts looking to discover the latest developments and hottest products for different industry segments.

With over thousands of mobile applications available for download online plus thousands of new smart devices applications debuting each day, getting your application noticed quickly and efficiently can be challenging. Mobifest 2010 can help.

Take advantage of all the benefits of what a face-to-face event brings at an incredibly affordable price.
For the full list of packages and benefits in the MobiFEST 2010, please see below.

MobiFEST 2010 – Standard Package – N250,000.

• One (1) station of a 4-sided kiosk (9ft /9ft).
• One (1) 29” H x 11 1/8” promotional sign.
• One (2) outlet for device charging .
• Wireless Internet services available.
• Exhibitor company listing and description in on-site guide.
• Free expo guest passes to invite customers/prospects.
• Exclusive access to hundreds of pre-registered MobiFEST media.
• PR Kit to help you maximize your reach to media attending the event
• Pre-show media alerts and on-site press event opportunities

MobiFEST 2010 – Silver Package – N450,000.

• One (1) station of a 4-sided kiosk (11ft / 11ft)
• Venue Branding and promotional
• One (2) outlet for device charging .
• Wireless Internet services available.
• Exhibitor company listing and description in on-site guide.
• Free expo guest passes to invite customers/prospects.
• Exclusive access to hundreds of pre-registered MobiFEST media.
• PR Kit to help you maximize your reach to media attending the event
• Pre-show media alerts and on-site press event opportunities

mobiFEST 2010 – Developers Hub – N50,000

• Single Table with two chairs.
• One outlet for device charging.

MobiFEST 2010 – Sponsorship Gold Package – N2,000,000
• Outdoor and prime location Kiosk / Tent.
• Event venue Branding and promotion.
• Showcase presentation.
• Promotion on ALL event collateral.
• One (4) outlet for device charging .
• Wireless Internet services available.
• Exhibitor company listing and description in on-site guide.
• Free expo guest passes to invite customers/prospects.
• Exclusive access to hundreds of pre-registered MobiFEST media.
• PR Kit to help you maximize your reach to media attending the event
• Pre-show media alerts and on-site press event opportunities

For Booth Confirmation and Sponsorships,Please email:Ehi@mobilemoneyafrica.com or +234 8030818868.
Follow us on FaceBook:http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/event.php?eid=126150707421948&ref=mf

Lead Event Partners.

Emmanuel Okoegwale
Principal Consultant @ MobileMoneyAfrica
Director @ African center for mobile financial inclusion – UK.

Stakeholders in Nigeria were hooked to the hope machine in the month of May, expecting the outcomes of the License approvals from the Central Bank of Nigeria to commence pilots projects for mobile money.June seems to hold much promises but the first week is gone without news from the regulatory body.

While I commend the CBN on the efforts and mileage gained in the last few months of promoting mobile financial inclusion in terms of educating the stakeholders however,it seems the education side of it has been focused on Large commercial Banks.

Some weeks ago, some potential players in the Nigerian Mobile Money space complained that they are not in the know of happenings in the industry in Nigeria. While about six of them are not aware of license requirements, seven of them are not even aware of a regulatory framework by the CBN. Having personally mailed out the CBN regulatory framework more than 60 times to interested parties in Nigeria and beyond, my only conclusions are that, either the CBN did not cover all the stakeholders segments adequately or these group of people are far from the industry.

Month of May also opened my eyes to some existing fringe e-commerce service providers with strong mobile elements in Nigeria that are not currently holding any electronic license from the CBN or in any way affiliated to the Banks. It was alarming to find such operators in Nigeria. The CBN licensed providers will have to compete with these shadowy firms that are already actively building agent networks and operational in major cities and yet avoiding the attention from the regulator.

Up till the last working day of May, Microfinance Banks and cooperatives societies that are supposed to act as the agent points for the industry are not even aware of such opportunities and potentials for them in the emerging industry.

Having come this far, the Central Bank of Nigeria should not treat mobile money as a technology play. It is clearly beyond technology. To make mobile money work in Nigeria, stakeholders education, cooperation and contributions is very key since the success will depend on interdependencies that can only evolve if they are well involved into the overall strategy.

Though disappointed in the month of May, hopefully we will get to see some actions in the month of June if there are no shift in approvals for commencement of pilots by license applicants.

The CBN should also make available, news and updates likes changes in the capital requirements for applicants, application submission, approvals and other necessary information should be made available online since it is easily accessible and should serve as a formal channel of stakeholders engagement.

Attend: Mobile Money agent training and Recruitment in Lagos on June 16th @ University of Lagos: http://mobilemoneyafrica.com/archives/1737

Kenya’s second largest mobile operator Zain said Thursday it plans to invest over 350 million shillings (4.8 million U.S. dollars) to roll out mobile transfer service, Zap outlets countrywide to extend its reach.

Zain Kenya Managing Director Rene Meza told a news conference in Nairobi said that the mobile operator also plans to test its 3G network in July in Nairobi, Mombasa and other commercially viable areas in anticipation of the review of the 3G spectrum.

“We have been doing very well on Zap with over 500,000 customers transacting 250 million shillings on a monthly basis.

“However, we are aware of the challenges we have in terms of Zap outlets availability,” he said.

Meza said Zain Kenya expects industry regulator, the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) to reduce the 3G spectrum which currently is at 25 million U.S. dollars.

Zain, Telkom Kenya and Essar Telkom have disputed the fee saying it is exorbitantly high, but market leader Safaricom, the only player that had paid the amount for the licence, maintains they must be treated equally.

“Our data business has grown by over 35 per cent year on year at the end of the first quarter of 2010.

“This is going to be the driver for growth going forward,” Meza said.

Meanwhile, Zain Kenya has quickly moved to take advantage of the recently introduced communication regulations by launching a 50 percent reduction in tariffs in a bid to woo new customers.

Meza said the new rates would help the operator aggressively go after the mass market after years of mainly focusing on corporate clients.

The move will see Zain customers pay three shillings for inter network calls and six shillings to any other network between 1850 GMT and 0300GMT.

Meza attributed the ability to reduce the rates to “optimisation” of Zain’s cost structure, which has made the mobile operator cut its costs by 25 percent.

He said most Kenyans want to make most calls from 1500GMT and what this means to the ordinary citizen is that they will have affordable rates and low calling rates to other networks.

The shift now directly pits it against its three competitors, market leader Safaricom, Orange Kenya and Essar Kenya’s Yu, in what is already a fierce fight for the low-end market.

The shift in strategy comes barely a month after its parent company, Zain Group, sold all but two of its African operations to Bharti Airtel of India, in a 10.7 billion dollars deal due to be completed this month.

MTN Rwanda says that transactions through the mobile money service have reached Rwf590m, barely five months after the launch of the mobile operator’s service that enable users to transfer money electronically with their phones without having to move location.

The service dubbed “MTN Mobile Money” was officially launched in February.

“People have shown interest in this service. The first impediment we are addressing is the cost of sending the money around the country,” Albert Kinuma, the head of mobile money told Business Times on Thursday.

Sending money through the service attracts a fee of Rwf250 for any transaction between Rwf1,500 and Rwf300,000 for somebody registered while the transaction cost varies between Rwf600 to Rwf4,000 for somebody unregistered.

Rwanda’s largest mobile operator by market share says within the first three months, the service has managed to attract about 83,000 users with at least 71,000 active mobile subscribers utilising the platform.

While response from the public has been positive, the biggest challenge remains the financial muscle of the dealers. The company says the success of the product largely depends on local entrepreneurs becoming partners and making the businesses grow.

“We have realised that in some instances agencies have been overwhelmed by the volumes and during the course of the day, one of the agents runs out of money,” Kinuma observed.

So far, MTN has only 201 dealers countrywide of which 80 are around Kigali.

“What we are trying to achieve is having a network that anyone in Rwanda does not have to walk more than 5 kilometres to find an agent.”

However, the official says MTN is continuously engaging the business community to increase investment into the business.

“It is something we are addressing and it is improving – we do not want to find ourselves in a situation where some agents might run out of money.”

The product in which MTN Rwanda invested over $2 million, also allows users to buy airtime once they have registered for the service.

But according to Kinuma, there are other unexploited possibilities that the money transfer service can offer such as paying utility bills and salaries.

“The first service we started with was the ability to send and receive money across the country – because it is something very simple and easy to understand for everyone – as well as the ability to purchase airtime from your phone, for yourself and other person. The next step is cash power,”

Though the mobile money transfer service –the first of its kind in the country, MTN says it is taking advantage of their wide network coverage (over 90 percent) to enhance access to financial services.

“Our target was to achieve 130,000 users on the platform by the end of the year and we are already half way the mark and we should be achieving that in the next couple of months.”Kinuma said.

Salimotu Idirrissu, a middle age woman in the North western region of Nigeria, living in Bunza local government which is 35 kilometers from the state capital shared her story with me some weeks ago. She lives in the rural town of Bunza and actively engaged in fish mongering from the local River which is seasonal in nature and some times send some to her excess processed fish during bountiful harvests to relatives in the National capital to get better prices. She coordinates her business remotely through her mobile phone.

On the advice of her customers at Abuja, She was advised to open a Bank account to enable them pay her conveniently without the need to send the money through the Cattle truck drivers (Dogo Baro) that ply the Abuja – Bunza – Birrin Kebbi route.She yielded to their advice and decided to visit the nearest Bank branch which is 35 kilometers away.

At the preferred Bank of Her choice, her application for a savings Bank account was rejected because she has no valid ID card and utility bill which are standard documentations for such account class. Despite the letter from Her Local Islamic Cleric and a Local Government origin certificate, rejected and dejected, She returned back to her rural town to face the reality of keeping cash at home and receiving her sales cash via the Dogo baro Drivers (She did not like this particularly because of the security implication of everyone in the small town knowing about her improving sales and cash at hand).

The above represents the typical situation of the unbanked in Africa’s largest Country, Nigeria, with less than 22 million Bank accounts in a country of 140 million.

The authorities are quite mindful of such challenges in Nigeria and in the last few decades, efforts has been channeled to community, rural and micro finance Banking but all met with little or no success. The MFI’s in Nigeria are largely concentrated in the urban areas and they equally compete with the large commercial banks in urban districts for a share of the market at the detriment of the rural unbanked. It is common place to see MFI’s build their branches close to the LCB’s,in same architectural style with grand furnishings and to cap it all, benchmark their service requirements like commercial Banks.

The Central Bank of Nigeria in its wisdom decided to take a deep look at mobile financial services and the last twenty four months, efforts and resources are being channeled in the sector with a view to opening more opportunities and creating formal financial access for the unbanked in rural and urban areas using the mobile channel.

Month of April witnessed the submission of proposals by interested solutions providers, technology firms and financial institutions to qualify for license short listing which results will be made public in the month of May. If Central Bank of Nigeria is able to overcome the licensing challenge and launch mobile money in Nigeria, the likes of Salimotu will not need to travel up to a distance of 35 kilometers for Basic Banking services in near future.

To understand and view some potentials services in the offing for Nigeria, visit the mobile money hub at the AITEC AFRICA Banking and Mobile Money Conference,May 11 – 12, Eko Hotel and Towers and request for free demo from firms like Celltrust, Maxim –Pro, Tagattitude, Graditim, Nihilent, Ingres, MMIT, M-Naira, Mypesa and Easipay.

Emmanuel Okoegwale
Director @ Africa Centre for mobile financial inclusion, UK – Sponsors of the mobile money hub.

Share your management background with Africans?

Jide Akindele is the MD/CEO of Mobile Media Info Tech Limited with three other partners playing key strategic
roles. Jide Akindele comes from a VAS background, before starting this company, Jide was the Vice President of International Sales and Marketing for The Mobile Media Group LLC also known as MMG. A company based in Miami Florida and was a sister company to Neo-Media on the marketing arm of VAS products. Jide has had the opportunity to help build and develop a variety of mobile applications and products for numerous companies.

While with MMG, Jide helped build Virgin Nigeria’s Mobile Website (Wapsite) which allowed consumers to book their tickets via their mobile phones and check on flight updates. Jide also provided Promoworld (the leading airport advertising firm in Nigeria) with Bluetooth Marketing solutions for deployment at the International Airport in Lagos. On the international scale, Jide has helped build mobile app. campaigns for the likes of Universal Records, Def Jam Records, Mobsvideo, and Firefly Capital ITX, etc.
Jide’s background in the VAS industry has given him insight to what can work in different markets.

What influenced your choice of technology?

I was influenced to build a MMT (Mobile Money Transfer App.) when an opportunity to work for Money Gram Nigeria came up. I was wondering how Money Gram would be able to help the citizens of Nigeria to move funds to their loved ones and also fall under the CBN regulation. The one thing that came to mind was through the mobile phone, but before doing so I decided to study the market and I came up with a philosophy which most companies don’t follow: “by studying the business structure of an environment first you can now develop a business model that will work for the environment, each market environment is different from the next so not all markets can work with the same solution.”

Your solution is quite innovative and clearly differentiated. Will this influence the market?

Thank you for noting that the Mobile Wallet solution is truly a differentiated service. Unlike existing mobile money systems such as the popular (and pioneering) M-Pesa, our Mobile Wallet offers the unique distinction of being the first to offer consumers the easiest source of funds – your ever available airtime credit! We believe that one of
the core reasons for the poor results in the war to migrate significant millions of unbanked but economically active Nigerians to traceable financial systems is largely due to the access and exit points of the existing mobile money systems. Currently, you can only access cash via going to a bank to make the transfer or receive the transfer. We are all familiar with the various psychological and physical barriers banks represent to the unbanked rural and periurban dweller living somewhere like Ipaja Lagos, or Oro in Kwara State or Batagarawa in Katsina state.

The MMIT Mobile Wallet however provides EASY ACCESS to the financial system via Airtime credit which literally, is everywhere. Just buy the credit (from any network), load it through a simple but secure process onto our Mobile Wallet for storage for a rainy day or immediately transfer to the mobile wallet of a family member in need, living far away; or into a microfinance bank account as part of loan repayments; or into the mobile wallet of a small or large size merchant like a trader at Oke Arin, NEPA Bill. Exit points depend on the final terminal point of use – it could be the account of a microfinance institution or it could be an ATM through which the funds are transferred as cash out. Amazing!

We believe that with unique Mobile Money Transfer solutions, the adoption of mobile money and other simple but relevant electronic forms of payment will grow faster than before as real value is realized through it.

We want the average Nigerian (people in the C2DE sociodemographic categories) and who make up more than 50% of our population as a country to be able to rest easy knowing there is a superb back up plan to the existing money payment systems out there that will ensure they achieve what they desire and on time.

Uniqueness of your platform?

SMS applicable: that is because we want it to be usable in every environment and also to boost reliability of the service. Though it also has Java functionality for java enabled handsets. KEY BENEFITS OF MMIT Mobile Wallet.

- Network neutral (Users of different networks have unrestricted access to use)
- Encourages effective and rewarding inter dependencies
in the banking industry.
- Bank neutral (Rather than being tied to a specific bank, which would defeat the CBN objectives, MMIT
Mobile Wallet offers a centralized solution wherewith users will not be restricted in any part of the
country.
- Multiple Cash Out/Usage points (Our solution, by virtue of the package can work on:
- POSes across switch enabled network platforms,
- Transfer from your Mobile Wallet to another Mobile Wallet
- Mobile Wallet to ATMs
- Mobile Wallet to Online payment interface if using a Wap or GPRS enabled phone)
- Mobile Wallet for Bill Payment (Merchants, Utility bills etc)
- Easy Documentation and report management. This allows for easy reconciliation of transactions across our
services and every third part provider on the M-wallet platform.

What strong compelling needs will it address?

I believe our M-Wallet will tackle consumer’s day to day needs from family issues, personal issues, which are the core essentials that went into building this application.
My partners and I feel that placing ourselves in the shoes of the consumer and seeing what frustrates them on a daily basis enables us to see what needs to be implemented into the application and run with it. Please it is important to note that MMT is more than just moving funding and making payments it is giving consumer’s the comfort of taking care of their needs in real-time.

How can the unbanked benefit?

The unbanked can benefit from the M-Wallet application because it gives them the opportunity to store their funding and can be utilized at any point in time. We are giving the unbanked the opportunity to keep and monitor their money in the palm of their hands and also have access to their funds at any time of the day. It also gives them the same opportunity as the banked in making payments for day to day needs that must be met with family, trading partners etc…

Potential working relationship with mobile network operators, financial institutions and other stakeholders?

MMIT has been in talks with MNO’s and aggregators and we are looking to build a strong relationship with them as the industry forges ahead. MMIT has just signed with a partner in South Africa that is linked to 14 countries in Africa and South America to provided MMT infrastructure for its consumers.

What should Africans expect in coming months?

We are looking at a lot more opportunity opening up in the upcoming months with more partnership and roll outs in other African countries that are looking at MMT as a way of keeping families connected, and easing the day to day needs of individuals without carrying cash.

What should Nigerians expect from your firm at the Mobile Money Hub event?

Oh, we fully intend to make a presentation of the process and a simple demonstration of the solution. We will be available to discuss potential collaborations with serious minded partners looking to integrate this solution to offer a very robust, and secure mobile money solutions for all consumers

Contacts:
Jide Akindele
www.mmitonline.com
009-8051-780-338
009-7062-279-365

Third Batch Training – July 6th, 2010.

Central Bank of Nigeria will be licensing firms in the next few weeks to provide mobile payments in Nigeria for an addressable of 140 million people where only 22 million are banked with more than 70 million mobile subscribers.

Mobile payment license will cover mobile Banking, payments, savings, person to person payments, remittances and other mobile related commerce which are currently lacking in the Nigerian economy. Mobile payment agents are the main actors for any successful mobile payment deployment and Nigeria will require minimum of 60,000 agents to cover the 34 states and 744 local governments.

MobileMoneyAfrica is actively leading the trail in opening up in sector all over Africa by providing media, event, news and education in the emerging sector. The training event will empower potential agents to understand how mobile payment works, their role and benefits as a Business Venture in the emerging industry.This is a certificate training course.

Areas of focus:

• Understanding mobile payments.
• Types of technologies,applications,Handset management.
• How it works.
• Agent recruitment.
• Agent point branding.
• Managing Operations at Agent locations – efloat and Till management.
• Security and Fraud management.
• Operational risk for agents.
• Basic Accounting for agents.

The training will also showcase technologies and applications from players in the industry in Nigeria and attendees will also get listed in agent database for providers in Nigeria.

For whom:

Merchants, Store owners, Pharmacy and drug stores, Retired teachers (Rural and Urban areas), entrepreneurs, airtime dealers, Micro finance Banks, Loan and thrift societies, cooperative societies, Transport hub managers, Gas stations owners, Eateries, Hotels, Lottery operators, Retail distributors, retail store owners and others.

Venue:

University of Lagos
Guest House and Conference centre
Akoko
Lagos – Nigeria

Date: July 6th, 2010 at 10 am

Facilitator:
Emmanuel Okoegwale
Mobile payment Specialist

Registration:

Training duration is a day with a short break for refreshments. Accommodation can be arranged for travelers outside Lagos at the University of Lagos Guest House.

Early Registration cost – N8,000.Closes on June 30th.

Email:ehi@mobilemoneyafrica.com or call – 08030818868 / 01-2212869 for payment details.

Or Pay Direct into Bank  account and send us your details:

Go Mobile Nigeria Company

UBA Bank Account: 03550160000794

(Nigeria Naira Account)

Pictures from Training on May 25th / June 16th @ University of Lagos.