Mobile Money Africa

Faridah Kulabako
Kampala

Picture those days when you had to spend Shs10, 000 on bus fare to deliver just Shs20, 000 to a relative. Or imagine the long queues in the banking halls when you want to pay utility bills or your child’s school fees.

The advent of mobile money, a platform which allows people to use their mobile phones like wallets to transfer money, pay for goods and services and conduct banking services, has started to have a transformative effect at a faster pace than previously envisaged.

The massive uptake of the mobile commerce platform as opposed to traditional banks can be explained by the rapid growth of mobile phone penetration, creating a fertile ground for service.

With a population of about 32 million people, Uganda has over 10 million mobile phone subscribers and only about three million bank account holders. The platform took advantage of the extensive reach of mobile phones to improve financial access and bring a good number of people into the formal banking system. The service rides on Zain’s Zap, Uganda telecom’s M-sente and MTN’s Mobile money.

Mr Brandon Semanda, the Zain Uganda marketing manager says the telecom has about 140, 000 active clients using Zap and over 1.4 million customers with enabled sim cards. Whereas Uganda Telecom’s M-sente has a subscription of about 29, 510 as of August 8, 2010.

The convenient, flexible, low cost and instantaneous nature of the platform has led to its swift popularity among Uganda’s banked, underserved and unbanked population. Mobile money acts as a mobile wallet allowing users to utilise their mobile phone in much the same way as a bank account debit card.

Using the mobile phone as a bank account, it does not only reduce the need to carry cash, but also enables users to purchase airtime, pay utility bills including water, electricity and DSTV services, pay school fees, pay for merchandise, send money from the comfort of one’s office or home.

Zap moves an estimate of over Shs2 billion monthly and the average amount sent per transaction is between Shs50, 000-Shs500, 000.

Mr Mark Kaheru, Uganda telecom’s relations manager says as of August 8, M-sente moved an average of Shs75 million per week, an average of Shs43 million was withdrawn per week and airtime worth Shs2.5 million purchased.

The platform has been taken up by many people, especially the unbanked as a substitute of a savings account, which enables them to deal with unexpected expenses such as medical treatment.

The maximum transfer amount per day is, however, Shs1 million and the maximum balance one can hold on the account is Shs1 million. Thus, sending money using mobile money is much cheaper and faster compared to the slow and costly transfers via banks, traditional money sending agents.

Players say the novel product that provides the most comprehensive and accessible package of mobile commerce is slowly changing Uganda’s socio – economic landscape.

Mr Kaheru says the platform has made business transaction easier and that there is more money flowing in from upcountry districts to Kampala to purchase goods and agriculture equipments thereby increasing trade. “People no longer need to board buses to come to Kampala to trade, they simply send money using phones to someone they trust here who buys and sends the goods back to the person,” Mr Kaheru adds.

The low rate of sending and receiving money saves money that would have been used in bus fare and the huge transaction charges and time that would have been spent on the way or in the long queues there by allowing people to concentrate on their businesses for increased profits.

Zap subscribers pay between Shs250 and Shs5,000 to send and receive finances of between Shs1-Shs1 million. None-registered users pay between Shs200 and Shs2, 000 for sending and Shs1, 000 and Shs5, 000 for withdrawals. MTN’s registered users pay Shs800 to send any amount of money irrespective to any part of the country and between Shs700 and Shs9, 000 to receive cash depending on the amount.

Non-registered users and those using other networks pay upon receiving a withdrawing charge, which varies between Shs1,000 and Shs19, 000. “The impact of mobile money services may be minimal now but in a few years, a huge impact will be seen,” Mr Semanda said. Through the service, Zain has created jobs to over 4,500 Zap agents across the country.

Users are also able to keep track and manage their finances through handsets for instance checking account balances, changing passwords, nick-names and getting bank information and reports.With Zap, one is also able to purchase airtime at no cost.

Mi-Pay Limited, the award winning mobile money service provider, is planning to ramp up its aggressive expansion programme with the appointment of Allan Jakobsen as new Chief Executive Officer. Original founder founder and former CEO, Norman Frankel, will stay on with the company, as part of the executive management team and as Chief Business Development Officer.

Having held executive positions within a number of Telcos across Europe, including leading Danish operator TDC, Jakobsen also has extensive payment industry experience as the former President and CEO of the largest Telco data and clearing house Dannet/MACH. His appointment will further strengthen Mi-Pay’s ability todrive competitive service and operational advantage to international mobile operators, MVNO’s and financial institutions.

Original founder and former CEO, Norman Frankel, will retain a central role within Mi-Pay, as part of the executive management team and as Chief Business Development Officer where he will focus on developing the strategic relationships that will be vital for Mi-Pay’s future success.

Commenting on his new role Jakobsen confirms, “I am thrilled to take on this new challenge. Mi-Pay has already proven its value since its inception in 2004; becoming a leadingglobal player in the dynamic mobile payments market, which is projectedto reach US$264.8 billion by the year 2015*. We are now ready to take the next step in Mi-Pay’s growth strategy. We have a strong customer base that includes the likes of Du, Tesco, Carphone Warehouse and Zain. Our proven, multi-channel payments platform is supported by a dedicated team who demonstrate true passion for customer service. Norman has been instrumental in achieving this and we both look forward to taking Mi-Pay’s mobile banking, money transfer and international and domestic top-ups to an even wider audience than ever before.”

In terms of his objectives, Jakobsen is clear, “Growth and innovationare a core part of Mi-Pay’s corporate DNA. We will continue to develop and deploy new mobile payments services that reflect the strategic direction of our customers. We have aggressive regional expansion plans to boost our International Airtime Transfer network to over 60 countriesby the end of the year. In addition, we will continue to invest in our PCI Level 1 certified platform to add value to our bespoke managed services as well as white label solutions.”

Commenting on Jakobsen’s appointment, Executive Chairman of the BoardMichael Dickerson states, “Since Mi-Pay’s foundation over 6 years ago, the company has experienced phenomenal growth. To ensure we are ready for the next phase, we are evolving our organisational structure as wellas our solutions. Allan has the Telco and payment industry experience we need to drive further into operator based services as well as a considerable track record of commercial success. At Mi-Pay, Allan is part of a great team; we welcome his valued contribution and leadership.”

IVO VEGTER
Contributor @ IT WEB

In SA, 50% of the people are unbanked. About a third of those aren’t just unbanked, but previously banked. Something made them fall off the formal economy ladder. This is a damning indictment of the local banking sector.
There have been a series of attempts at providing mobile payment solutions for existing bank customers and the millions of unbanked people in SA. The latest is Vodacom’s M-Pesa service. However, to date, there hasn’t been any success on the scale of M-Pesa in Kenya or MTN MobileMoney in Uganda.

It isn’t at all clear why this should be.
At the recent Tech4Africa Conference, I highlighted some of the reasons why mobile payments are so important, especially at the lower end of the market, and what a good solution would have to offer.
The advantages extend well beyond a larger customer base for small-scale farmers, traders and shopkeepers, or reducing the need to travel to town for even basic transactions. With decent mobile payment services, agents can act as bank tellers to handle wage payments, remittances, transfers, and cash withdrawals. They can sell electricity, airtime, and even small-scale insurance policies or micro-loans. These services filter out into the wider community, giving people more time, more money, and more opportunities. This is how an economy really grows: organically at grass-roots level, instead of through patriarchal planning and social welfare services.
“Here’s the ideal,” I said. “We’re looking for a system that can allow a buyer to pay any merchant and allow a merchant to accept money from any buyer. It must allow person-to-person money transfers, whether they meet in a shop, or send money home across country borders. It must be real-time. It must be usable not only for large transactions, but also for small ones. It must smoothly integrate with both bank accounts and paper money.”

Sadly, strict regulation means very few innovators can enter this market. Essentially, only someone in full legal partnership with a bank can offer mobile payment services. The result is that most mobile money solutions merely replicate high-end banking services, instead of addressing the actual needs of people in the low-income, unbanked sector.
The reason for the dominance of banks is SA’s strict deposit-taking law. Only a bank can hold money for someone on the understanding that it is to be repaid at some future date. This law makes it illegal to use other tokens of value, such as airtime, vouchers, or loyalty schemes as a substitute for cash.
The reason for this law is not depositor protection, as the Reserve Bank’s Dave Mitchell claimed at an ITWeb mobile payments conference last year. It is, of course, annoying if your bank fails and you lose your money, but is it really any different if the company that fails owes you in clothes, or air miles, or phone calls? Why aren’t banking regulators protecting consumers from such failures?
The real reason is protection of the currency. The government wants control over monetary policy. It pays for overspending by devaluing the currency, using an ingenious trick known as “quantitative easing”. You might recognise it as “printing money”. If citizens are free to switch to a currency that keeps its value, government would not have this power. That’s why we are no longer allowed to use gold as currency, and why we are legally required to accept the South African rand if it is offered in payment of debt.
The result of all this over-regulation is a powerful banking cartel that doesn’t even need to collude to skim the cream off the economy. The spread between credit and debit interest is astonishingly large. Charges on anything that gets near a bank are astonishingly high. Transfers take astonishingly long, while your money sits in limbo earning astonishing amounts of interest. This profit gets collected, astonishingly, not by you but by your bank. Less astonishingly, there is no real desire on the part of banks to challenge this corrupt system.
So, when a bank and a telco do partner to offer mobile payments, both of them are going to want a big slice of the action. Eighteen months after its launch, MTN Banking, also known as MobileMoney, has gained little traction in SA, unlike in Uganda, Ghana and Ivory Coast, where it can claim over two million customers. The difference is that in those countries it was launched as a real mobile wallet, rather than a banking product backed by Standard Bank, complete with a bankcard and bank account number.
Bank charges are a key reason why so many people don’t trust banks with their money. When someone who does not earn much puts R100 in a bank, they expect to get R100 out. That’s not how banks operate, however. Instead of investing deposits to earn income, banks now charge customers every time they loiter with intent at an ATM. Without blushing, banks charge fixed fees on small transactions, and percentage fees on bigger ones. Cash in your pocket, however vulnerable to thieves, remains the smart option for many people.
With MTN Banking, the charges problem remains. Transfers cost R3, withdrawals cost R5, and deposits cost 1% with a minimum of R3. This isn’t exactly cheap, if you’re a low-income, small-transaction customer.
I recently spoke with a small business owner, who was hoping to get his workers to use a bank account for wages. He found he had to increase their pay to cover bank charges, or the workers wouldn’t accept it.
The complexity of banking is another reason many people avoid it, and MTN Banking is not much less complex than a traditional bank account. Sending and receiving cash is limited to other MobileMoney account holders, bank account holders, and MasterCard merchants. In the mobile phone, it offers a convenient transaction channel, but at heart it is still a formal banking product.

As SA’s trade and industry minister, Rob Davies, once put it: “The formal banking sector in this country is not designed to fulfil this role [of banking the unbanked]. Our banking laws are extremely conservative.”
The poster child for mobile payments is the Safaricom-led M-Pesa system in Kenya. It has amassed over six million customers since its launch three years ago.
The M-Pesa product, developed by Vodafone, seems a little better positioned than most previous attempts at a mobile money service. It still requires the formal backing of a formal bank (Nedbank, in this case), but it does allow you to send money to any mobile number in the country. This is a big step forward, since it brings into play the entire market that has mobile phones.
However, like MTN Banking, it isn’t cheap. Prices are roughly in line with those charged by M-Pesa in Kenya, at R2.45 for a transfer to another M-Pesa customer, and R10 for sending money to a non-customer. At the low end of the scale (the minimum transaction size is, you guessed it, R10), this is a large chunk of the money that changes hands.

CGAP, an independent policy and research institute that studies financial access to the poor, estimates mobile money solutions in Africa are on average only 19% cheaper than brick-and-mortar banking. However, at the low end of the market, for transaction values of $23 instead of at the median transaction value of $69, they’re about 38% cheaper. Either way, the cost is less than half of the informal providers of money transfer services, such as couriers, moneylenders, bus services, and post office services.
The report finds that it isn’t so much the actual pricing, but the way in which products are priced, that is key to adoption. For example, small transactions should attract small charges, and free deposits makes a mobile money account a better way to save than a bank offers.
With Vodacom M-Pesa, small transactions are no cheaper than large ones, but it does offer free deposits, unlike MTN Banking. An ordinary customer can save up to R5 000 this way, and only pays R30 for the five R1 000 transactions it takes to withdraw the money.
There is one other service in SA that does everything M-Pesa does. This is Wizzit, the mobile banking solution backed by Bank of Athens, and launched in 2005. It has achieved some market penetration, with over a quarter of a million customers, but it is nowhere near the 10 million that Vodacom claims to be targeting in its first three years. It will be fascinating to watch these two compete. Wizzit can claim a track record, and a great image in poorer areas thanks to its policy of recruiting the unemployed as agents. The other has huge market visibility and two famous brand names – Vodacom and M-Pesa – behind it. If life were fair, Wizzit would win this fight. Life isn’t.
Will M-Pesa succeed where others before it have failed? Let’s check the boxes:

* “We’re looking for a system that can allow a buyer to pay any merchant…” Check.
* “…and allow a merchant to accept money from any buyer.” Check, provided the buyer uses M-Pesa or has a bank account.
* “It must allow person-to-person money transfers…” Check. The recipient only needs a mobile phone.
* “…whether they meet in a shop, or send money home across country borders.” Fail. No international transactions here, though domestic remittances are fine.
* “It must be real-time.” Check (somewhat surprisingly, given banks’ addiction to sitting on other people’s money during transfers).
* “It must be usable not only for large transactions…” Check. Transaction limits are R1 000 a day and R13 000 a month, probably to thwart money-launderers, but this will do for a large majority that is presently unbanked.
* “…but also for small ones.” Not really. Flat fees make small transactions expensive. Between deposit, transfer and withdrawal, two registered customers pay a flat fee of R8.45. Under a couple of hundred rand, where vast numbers of transactions take place, that’s going to bite.
* “It must smoothly integrate with both bank accounts and paper money.” Check.
Infrastructure such as M-Pesa could do wonders to stimulate SA’s economy. Especially among the poor, it could make a huge difference. By wasting less time and money transacting, they can spend more time actually making the money in the first place. Besides this, a swath of new transactions becomes possible with an efficient mobile money infrastructure.
M-Pesa has more to recommend it than most previous attempts, including free deposits and the ability to send money to any mobile phone.
It might be wise, however, to reserve judgement until 10 million people actually turn up with their IDs to register for the service.

After a long wait, mobile payment is finally berthing in Nigeria, a country of 140 million people and only 22 million Bank account. Central Bank of Nigeria is actively processing the applications submitted by Nigeria consortiums which is made up of Banks, MNO’s,Agent firms,technology providers and independent firms.

Despite the runway success of mobile financial services in some countries like Kenya, Philippines and some pockets of countries, the service comes with significant risk. In a country like Nigeria where smart guys always strive to get ahead of innovators as evident with the onslaught on ATM machines and card holders in recent times, providers of mobile payment will have to put in place, adequate mitigations plans to address risk.

Mobile payment risks include the following but not limited to, International risk, liquidity, Legal, Reputational, systemic and operational risks. Central to all the risk exposures is the provider and the end user. Nigeria without a functional National ID system is potentially a fertile ground for ID related risk in mobile payment.

End users may be exposed to some risk such as not able to access their mobile payment services due to inability to prove identity, customer ID stolen and used to open a mobile payment account. Fraudulent use of customers data may also become common place as providers have to work through third party agents to sign on customers. Recently, newly registered MNO subscribers information were illegally given out to some local politicians for campaign purposes and such breach happened just after the subscriber registered their new sim card at some appointed agent locations.

Issuance or use of a standard National ID is out for now as an option in Nigeria as the project was enmeshed in significant under the table dealings and was never concluded. Policy options that can be explored to tackle the ID challenge as enumerated in the Central Bank mobile payment guidelines are KYC which are commensurate with the risk. For non Banked customers, transaction limit of N30,000 ($200 USD) using picture, phone number for registration are flexible enough and within reach of these group of people.
Promoting mobile payment best practices will require the contributions of all stakeholders with particular attention focused on the on going SIM registrations, quality of data collected, security and authorized sharing at industry level.
Failures that might suffice from the ID Challenge might influence rigorous and Bank like KYC requirement that might deter registrations and uptake.
Unauthorized use of customer’s data for third party marketing and political campaigns as we near the 2011 elections might affect adoption negatively.ID compromise might be significant at agent outlets if adequate incentive, education, monitoring and support are not provided to the agent by the provider.

To learn more on how to mitigate mobile payment and Branchless Banking risk management in Nigeria, plan to attend upcoming training on Sept 7th in Lagos – Nigeria.

Emmanuel Okoegwale
emmanuel@mobilemoneyafrica.com

Visa Inc. has announced its intention to invest £6.6 million in London-based mobile banking and payments service provider Monitise plc to increase its stake to 14.4%. Earlier the company has announced that the existing agreement with Monitise was prolonged to 2015.

Last June Visa invested $13 million in the company by signing a 5-year strategic agreement called “Global Alliance Agreement”. Under the agreement Monitise was to develop technology to provide SMS alerts and secure payments to 2 billion clients of Visa worldwide.

During the last 2 years Visa has partnered with a number of financial institutions, mobile network operators and technology providers in order to smoothen and commercialize the mobile banking services for an enhanced consumer-base across the globe. The company believes that such partnerships will help to popularize the company service and to provide access to online payment services to more people worldwide.

mpesa

The US will leverage her technology by importing innovations from Africa as part of the Obama Administration’s bid to strengthen relations with the continent.
Citing the M-Pesa evolution, US Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Judith McHale said her country’s economy could benefit by importing the revolutionary mobile money transfer system from Kenya.
“We do not have such a system in America and we could import it to make it part of our national payment system,” said Ms McHale.
M-Pesa is run by Kenya’s largest mobile phone service provider, Safaricom, as a platform to send and receive money by its subscribers using their handsets. The technology is a first in the world.
Ms McHale spoke on Friday after paying a courtesy call to the Nairobi Stock Exchange. She is on an official visit to the country.
In return, America will support local universities and colleges by initiating an exchange programme between her institutions and those in Kenya. And instead of going the traditional way of exchange programmes of moving people, the proposed exchange will also leverage on technology.
“We appreciate that it is a limit in the number of people we can move to America from Kenya and America to Kenya. We thus want to use technology to link universities and colleges so that they can share knowledge,” she added.
On increased trade, she said, the Obama Administration is keen to see African countries focusing on serving home markets and thus supporting governments to address challenges of lack of links within the continent.
“We know there are impediments to more intra-continent trade in terms of communication and infrastructure. We want to encourage African governments to address these impediments,” said Ms McHale.
Appointed in President Obama’s Cabinet in May last year, Ms McHale’s duties are aimed at helping the American administration strengthen its relations with the rest of the world.
She is the former president and chief executive of Discovery Communication, which runs the Discovery Channel popular for airing documentaries on science, technology, adventure and nature news in over 170 countries.

Simon Russell
www.bizcommunity.com

Twelve years ago the retail banking industry thought the end of ‘bricks-and-mortar banking’ era was close, with the introduction of mainstream internet banking. However, this did not materialise as banks in their quest to differentiate, realised the value of the branch in the selling process and its necessity for customer acquisition and authentication.
The internet became a convenience channel and every customer with access to a PC expected their bank to provide an internet enabled banking service. In addition, without a clear integrated multi-channel approach, banks have in general not realised the expected cost savings and revenue opportunities of introducing an internet channel.

African revolution

In certain cases in the developing world, beyond South Africa, we have seen a revolution in the payment and remittances process led by MNOs (Mobile Network Operators). Kenya is a great example where Safaricom, a MNO, with its mobile banking offering M-PESA have gained more than 78% of the mobile phone market. In countries like Kenya, where there is a high population of unbanked and a high penetration of mobile devices, we can expect this trend to continue if the relevant banking or communications regulator does not check it.

South Africa however is different. It has a relatively ‘mature’ regulated banking industry and, thanks to the Mzansi product, has seen a 17% growth in the banked population since the launch of the account. FinMark Trust believes the Mzansi product accounted for just under half of that growth.

In comparison to other emerging markets, South Africa has a relatively high percentage of banked population around 46% compared to Kenya’s 15% banked population prior to the arrival of M-PESA. So it is highly unlikely that MNO led mobile banking play will dominate in South Africa.

Mobile banking could have rapid adoption

However, with more than 60% of the adult population in South Africa owning a cellphone, the highest on the continent, the stage is set for the rapid adoption of mobile banking.

In addition to the existing economic challenges, SA banks face significant pressure in the form of the competition commission, government access targets and more demanding consumer requirements. The winners, in the fight for market share, will be those banks with high customer loyalty delivered through greater customer centricity, convenience and low cost processing.

Mobile banking enables all three and we are already seeing extensive positioning in our market with some innovative products such as FNB’s Send Money and Standard Bank’s Mimoney.

Mimoney enables payments between domestic users through SMS based vouchers with PINS that can be redeemed at large retail stores. Not only is this type of innovation convenient but it demonstrates how mobile can simplify a bank’s distribution network – money is being transferred between clients without the need of an ATM or branch.

The scramble for banks to partner with retailers, government institutions, gyms and other ‘go to’ locations, to provide cash out points has already begun.

Time for small innovative banks

This is good news for smaller innovative banks wanting to take on the mass market and take market share from Tier 1 Banks. It is a challenge for the Tier 1 banks to defend with huge investments in ATM and branch networks. Approximately 60% of a bank’s cost is typically in its distribution network.

Small innovative banks, using existing mobile technology, leveraging agents and through partnerships in other industries, can bring low cost, convenient transactional banking to consumers country wide thereby challenging the previous exclusive domain of the Tier 1 Banks.

The ‘attack strategy’ will be to acquire customer transactional business through a combination of convenience and a low cost play – ownership of the transactional account is a prerequisite for understanding a customer’s behaviour and for executing a successful customer centric strategy. A successfully executed customer centric strategy increases loyalty (stickiness), decreases customer churn, increases the number of products sold to clients and increases profitability and Return on Equity.

Evolution of mobile

Mobile will evolve quickly from P2P payments, wallet, bill payments and general banking to more complex banking processes such as Account Origination (identification and authentication) and finally the holy grail of them all true M-commerce – point of sale transactions – in 2006 there were 160 billion POS transactions globally.

Account Origination identification and authentication processes are dependent on mobile devices with camera and biometric capabilities, with implementation by roving sales and service agents. It will take time before these devices become affordable for the majority of the population. However, when they do become available, they will transform the mobile handset into a sophisticated banking sales and service channel that will challenge the prevalence of ‘bricks and mortar’ banking.

The success of M-PESA in Kenya has shown that in the mobile banking age, speed is critical and a well thought through offering is vital to ensure market success. For banks to execute an effective mobile banking strategy they will need a clear vision and an operating model that enables low cost processing, and for more sophisticated customers a customer centric approach to banking that is seamlessly integrated to the bank’s other channels.

How does your platform work?

The platform www.CashEnvoy.com is an internet payment service that allows Nigerians to make payments, send money and receive payments with ease and convenience in a secured environment.
Once you sign up for a free CashEnvoy account, you can make payments, send money and receive money online.

To make payments using CashEnvoy, you have to fund your CashEnvoy account using Nigerian debit cards, online bank transfer or bank deposits and then select Cash Envoy during checkout on a merchant website.
Funds are then transferred securely through CashEnvoy and money is deposited into the seller’s Cash Envoy account.
When you make payments or send money, the amount is deducted from your CashEnvoy account balance. Both parties are notified via an email from CashEnvoy.
Funds can be withdrawn anytime from your Cash Envoy account.Funds withdrawn are paid into users’ registered bank account.You need no special technology to send/receive money through CashEnvoy. The only requirement is a valid email address.

In a Country like Nigeria with Security issues, how has it been for you?

Internet security is a major issue in Nigeria today; hence, security issues are handled with great importance.
Guaranteed security of transactions has always been the foundation of CashEnvoy. For an internet payment platform to survive in our environment, efficient and dependable security measures must be built into the foundation.

CashEnvoy was developed with this in mind, hence the reason why we have a myriad of security measures, some of which include account auditing, unique transaction references, user verification, 24/7 monitoring etc. Also CashEnvoy can only be accessed via secure http thus ensuring that all data sent to and from the service is encrypted.

We also do not hesitate in cooperating with anti corruption bodies like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Nigerian Police Force in bringing internet scammers to book.

As a first time user, do I need to Sign Up to make a payment?

Yes, all first time users have to go through a quick registration process.
This is the first step in user verification. Signing up is also very important for security reasons.

Cost of using your platform?

CashEnvoy charges only per transaction.
CashEnvoy does not charge any up front fees, withdrawal fees or any other fees.

Challenges in the Nigeria financial system and the effect on your operations?

One of the major challenges is – collaboration. We hope that in the future, users can make transactions on the internet directly from their bank accounts using our secured payment gateway.
Another major challenge presently is in the efficiency of the available Nigerian debit cards.
Internet banking is also an area that can be improved in some banks.
In all, we make the very best use of available resources to produce optimum performance in our services.

What are the cost elements for sender and receiver?

For the sender or the payer, using our service is totally free.
However for the receiver or the payee, there is a fixed service charge and an operational cost that depends on the amount being received.

Where Can I sign up or use your services?

To sign up or the registration for our services is available only on the internet through our online portal: https://www.cashenvoy.com

A brief background on the management?

Our management philosophy is centered on trust, relationship and friendship. We believe people are the greatest assets.
We also accept that the business would face challenges every day. Therefore the attitude is that regardless of the degree of difficulty, if the business is to survive, we must face each challenge as it comes.

Plans for the future and the unbanked Nigeria?

We are looking to a future where we would not only be the most prevalent means of online payment in Nigeria but also across Africa thereby promoting business transactions between Africa and across the world via the internet.

Plans for the future and the unbanked Nigeria?

We are looking to a future where we would not only be the most prevalent means of online payment in Nigeria but also across Africa thereby promoting business transactions between Africa and across the world via the internet.

A brief background on the management?

Our management philosophy is centered on trust, relationship and friendship. We believe people are the greatest assets.
We also accept that the business would face challenges every day. Therefore the attitude is that regardless of the degree of difficulty, if the business is to survive, we must face each challenge as it comes.

Olaoluwa Awojoodu

Head Business Development Unit

B.Sc Computer Science and Engineering, Obafemi Awolowo University

Member – Nigerian Institute of Management

SAP Business One consultant.

Olusegun Okin

Head Technical Support Group

B.Sc Electronic/ Electrical Engineering, Obafemi Awolowo University

PRINCE2 Registered Practitioner

Olusegun possesses vast knowledge in planning, design and development of business applications.

uniBank Ghana Limited, one of the vibrant indigenous banks in the country, intends to roll out more e-zwich Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) which will be located at strategic places in the country, beginning this month.

Though the bank will not disclose the areas that the ATMs will be sited, CITY & BUSINESS GUIDE gathers that they would be placed in Accra and Kumasi.

According to Rev Edward Randolph-Koranteng, Head of Electronic and Transaction Banking, the financial intermediary is in the process of installing a biometric ATMs at the Spintex road.
The ATM at the Suame branch has been functional since June 23, 2010.

It would accept all e-zwich cards regardless of the bank, which makes it accessible to many people.

Rev Randolph-Koranteng said the time has come for customers of uniBank to derive full benefits from the e-zwich ATMs since the bank can now link the traditional accounts of the customers to their e-zwich cards.

Biometric card holders, he said, can therefore perform various transactions including the transfer of money from one card to the other.

These services, according to him, would benefit the card holders.

Rev Randolph-Koranteng expressed satisfaction with the e-Week celebration which he said was timely.

It was aimed at creating awareness about electronic banking products.

He noted that uniBank wants to launch products that would enhance various transactions.

Some of the electronic products of the bank include uni-Alert, uni-Mobile and uni-Web.

Some US$ 16 million will be rewarded to institutions that can set up mobile banking services in Haiti.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation pledged US$ 10 million and the United States
Agency for International Development (USAID) will add another US$ 5 million to coax telecommunications and finance companies to set up mobile phone banking services for Haiti’s poor.

“After the earthquake on 12 January, we saw huge demand from Haitians who needed to receive money from family and aid organizations, but we also saw a severe reduction in the capacity of the banking system to get the cash into their hands,” Amolo Ng’weno of the foundation’s Financial Services for the Poor unit, said.

The powerful quake in Haiti killed up to 300,000 people and knocked out a third of banks, automated teller machines (ATMs) and money transfer outlets.

The multimillion-dollar pledge will offer cash incentives to companies that set up mobile financial services in Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas.

The first company to launch a mobile money service that reaches certain benchmarks within six months will receive US$ 2.5 million, and the second operator to launch and reach the same targets within 12 months will receive $1.5 million.

The remaining $6 million will be awarded as the first five million transactions take place.

The US$ 5-million USAID pledge will actually be in the form of technical and management assistance.

Phone service providers, banks and technology companies can bid to provide mobile banking services in Haiti-and compete for the Gates Foundation incentives-provided they have “a track record of commitment to the country that goes beyond the emergency period and a strong likelihood of success,” foundation officials said.

For the program to work, it must get off the ground rapidly and be deployed on a very large scale.

The Gates Foundation hopes at least one company will provide mobile banking services-also known as M-banking-in Haiti within a year and that five million mobile phone transactions will take place on the island nation within two years.

Around 40 percent of Haiti’s nine-million population have mobile phones, and those who don’t usually have access to one through a friend or relative.

Foundation officials hope that mobile phone financial services will enjoy the same success in Haiti as Kenya’s M-PESA mobile money service, used by nine million Kenyans just three years after its launch.

Anyone who can receive a mobile phone text message can receive money by M-PESA, and then merely have to go to the retail outlets of the mobile phone service provider that runs the M-banking program, or to a gas station, supermarket or local shop, to withdraw their cash.

M-PESA has caught on so dramatically in Kenya that everything from taxi fares to school fees is paid by mobile phone, according to the Gates Foundation.

In Haiti, the foundation hopes M-banking won’t only help people get much-needed cash but also stimulate local economies because “people who receive money on their phones, in their communities, are more likely to spend it there,” Ng’weno said.