Mobile Money Africa

mpesa

vigilantkenyan

Have you heard of this incidents?? – better be safe than sorry!
This incident happened to a colleague recently.A bad experience indeed.
He received a call from someone claiming to be calling from
Safaricom.The caller was very composed.
The caller told him ‘thank you for being our loyal and valuable MPESA
customer.You recall we had initially given you a black Sim card but
changed to green”.He answered in the affirmative. The caller then went
ahead to tell him that Safaricom was running a reward promotion
scheme for their loyal MPESA customers and went ahead to ask him to
confirm his National ID number and year of birth.Unsuspecting, he
disclosed that information. Coincidentally his birth year was also his
Mpesa PIN No.
The guy posed for a while and asked him whether 19- – (say 1967) was
his year of birth .He again answered in the affirmative.

The caller then told him he would be sent Nokia 8230, but before then
he needed to dial *33*0000# ,which he did.He was then told not to
call or transact anything using his line for the next ten minutes as
they perfrom transactions, purportedly at Safaricom,facilitating the
process of receiving the Nokia 8230 set.He complied.He is asked about
his current location,which information he gives.

After 10 minutes he tried to call back the number to confirm status of
the alleged gift only for the following message to appear :”Barring
all outgoing calls activated for SMS services activated for all data
circuit async”.

After 15 minutes the wife calls him on his alternate line claiming
that some one had called her using his (husband”s ) safaricom line
telling her to send them Ksh.10,000 for his release from arrest.She is
baffled and hence decides to use alternate line,only to discover he is
safe and sound.

In the meantime the wife calls safaricom to block the line,but it was
too late,as all the money in his MPESA had been withdrawn.

What is apparent is that this line was blocked by the code he typed
,viz *33*0000#.

The question uppermost in mind is how it could be unblocked without
some form of connivance by Safaricom staff.He had a substantial amount
in his Mpesa account.Could these thugs be getting targeting lines-with
good balances through connivance with Safaricom staff.

It is unlikely Safaricom will admit culpability, but tujichunge
wenyewe.

Keep safe.

The caller identified himself as Alex Omondi(Of course fake name) and
called using 0720 464 777

It is safer to tell this caller to call back in a while whilst you
check with Safaricom customer care by dialing 100 from your Safaricom
line or 020 4272100 from land line or any other line. Do not carry out
any instructions on phone without firm confirmation that you are doing
the right thing.

Competition in the mobile money business continues to bring better services to mobile phone users as Uganda Telecom’s (UTL) M-sente joined the school fees platform. This comes just over a month since Zain launched its Zap school fees portfolio in the market.

The mobile money market since its inception has been a battle for innovative partnership that improves on efficiency and effective service delivery. At the M-sente launch, UTL announced that it had partnered with Dfcu bank in bringing the School Fees platform closer to the people and make it more efficient to make these payments.”Students do not have travel with cash. It can be transferred onto an m-sente account and sent to the schools’ account in DFCU bank,” Alex Waiswa from the M-Sente team told East African Business Week.

With mobile money transfers the question of secure transactions can be read from the lips of some of the customers. At a breakfast for head teachers hosted by Dfcu bank, secure transactions were a key concern. UTL which looks to implement the new school fees platform by the end of august was put to task to explain how secure these transactions will be.

“What if an m-sente agent runs away with the money that has been given to him by the various parents who have made the payment?” One headteacher asked.

According to UTL, before an agent is selected, a particular amount of money is deposited by the agent on a UTL account. This way the agent will not be able to take off with schools money but instead will be working to recover the money already paid to UTL. The technology being used by UTL is a concept designed by MapSwitch a technology solutions company. MapSwitch Uganda Director of Mobile Banking Phil Levin said that m-sente platform has various security checks that effect the transactions. The checks include a pin number and some verification codes.

“The transaction is safe. Once money is paid and the agent sends the virtual money to the school account, it is immediately deposited on the account of the School at Dfcu bank,” Phil added.

The partnership with DFCU, schools will need to open accounts with bank so that when the money is paid it directly goes to the schools account. Unlike the Zap system, where the bursar can access the platform and be able to see who has paid, the m-sente system is different as it is the bank that accesses these payments.

“DFCU will have access to records of payment on a daily basis. The bank on receiving the report, will then deposit the money on the different schools’ accounts. Daily the schools will receive an e-mail with a report on which student has paid,” said Wilbrod Owor the head of Consumer Banking at DFCU bank. With convenience in the minds of parents, school fees payment platforms on mobile money then banks will not want to be left behind as the future technology now is visible in the telecom sector.

Ayodele Deen-Cole

Business people in Sierra Leone will now have the opportunity to enjoy the new “Splash Pay” service which was recently introduced by splash mobile money transfer company. ‘Splash Pay’ services gives users of splash money system the opportunity to make payment for goods and service at any merchant shop or institution that are participating with splash free of charge using your mobile phone.

Mike Foley, Director of Splash mobile money company said that the home grown Salone mobile money institution’s main priority is to provide a safe and easy transfer of money. Foley told journalists that the splash pay service is network neutral and is available all over Sierra Leone “our service is available to every one with a sim card no matter which network”, Zain, Comium and Africell, Foley stated.

With the splash pay money transfer service people doing business in Sierra Leone can pay for whatever goods whether at the provision shops, boutique or any restaurants or any other service like paying some money to any of your business partners.

Currently, money transfer through this system should not exceed one million leones. Marian Nasser of Jomike Bodyline, a boutique at Wilkinson Road expresses delight and ease when using splash pay system.

“For me, I find it easy and secured to use. I will urge customers to make use of this system when shopping at Jomike Bodyline,” she said.

The splash pay service has been classed as the most advanced payment of service now operating in Sierra Leone. “It grows the economy and introduces thousand of Sierra Leoneans to the financial system. The service also more convenient for employers to transfer money,” Said Sheka Forna, Chairman of Splash mobile money company; adding that merchants can now to provide the real convenience of cashless payments to their customers and that Sierra Leoneans would now enjoy the benefit of the world most advance cashless system”

The Sierra Leone money transfer giants have also disclosed that they have achieved their 100 and more retail points in Sierra Leone. “This is a major threshold for the development of Sierra Leone,” said Forna. The company has assured that they intend to reach 300 retail points by the end of this year.

MTN Uganda and United Bank for Africa today signed a landmark partnership agreement establishing UBA as the first financial institution to become an MTN Mobile Money agent.
MTN Uganda Chief Executive Officer Themba Khumalo and UBA Managing Director Margaret Mwanakatwe signed the agreement in the UBA Boardroom in Kampala, opening up UBA to close to a million MTN Mobile Money customers.
With close to one million MTN Mobile Money customers in the first year alone, the money transfer service has become Uganda’s fastest-growing, non-tariff telecommunications value add service, making it a perfect product fit for UBA as one of the fastest growing commercial banks in Uganda.
“UBA is one of Africa’s largest banks and is growing fast in Uganda. Through this partnership we will extend the reach of both MTN Mobile Money and UBA to customers across the country,” said UBA Managing Director, Margaret Mwanakatwe.
Mwanakatwe said the introduction of MTN Mobile Money at all its nine branches across the country would boost the penetration of banking services in Uganda and will be complementary to UBA’s other money transfer services such as U-Direct and Africash, enabling customers to convert cash on their personal and business accounts into e-cash in virtual accounts.
She hailed the partnership, saying that its success spells a greater future for easier money transfers within the region.
“UBA is in the process of investing in the creation of a one large borderless network, that right now spreads from Kenya in East Africa and Zambia in the south, all the way to Senegal in West Africa and the network is growing. We believe this is a service that we can roll out in other countries of Africa where both MTN and UBA operate,” she said.
MTN Uganda Chief Executive Officer Themba Khumalo said the partnership would enhance UBA’s portfolio with over one million potential customers.
“Since launch in March last year, MTN Mobile Money has recorded transfers of close to UGX.600 billion, and has close to one million registered users. We have reached the unbanked through the mobile phone, and today we bring our customers the added advantage of increased liquidity in Mobile Money through UBA,” Khumalo said.
“This partnership is for the benefit of our customers as well as the financial sector of Uganda. We commend Bank of Uganda for being open minded and highly appreciative of innovation. Their approach to financial management has significantly increased access to financial services through MTN Mobile Money,” Khumalo added.
Khumalo explained that the introduction of UBA as an MTN Mobile Money agent would assure liquidity of service across the country where UBA branches are located.
MTN Mobile Money was launched in March 2009, and more than 1,300 MTN Mobile Money Service outlets have been opened up across Uganda, spreading transaction services into remote areas. Over 60% of transfer recipients are located in rural areas.

Emmanuel Okoegwale
Principal Consultant at MobileMoneyAfrica.
Advisory board member at FrontlineSMS Credit – USA
Africa center for mobile financial inclusion,UK

As we approach the Central of Nigeria’s licensing regime for mobile money providers in Nigeria, what is increasingly becoming clearer is that the race belongs to those providers that can quickly roll out a well connected, efficient and effective Agent network as we have seen in the case of MPESA in Kenya where a single firm accounts for 50 percent of all domestic remittances and accounts for 15 percent of National GDP within a four year period.

The challenge that the providers will be faced with is to sign up quality agents very quickly before competition gets to them and also set them up after proper training at their own locations cut across Cities, Towns and villages all across Nigeria. No doubt a daunting task for non mobile operators like Banks,which are not experienced in managing complex and extensive third party relationships and independent providers with limited resources.

Agents role one – Register customers

Agents are customer facing and they are the face of the business. They will register customers on behalf of the provider, take their details and facilitate any updates on the mobile phone if need be. Some applications may be loaded on the mobile phone or SIM card upgrades depending on the applications. In some instances and according to the regulators need, subscriber data will be collected and verified before signing up at agent outlet. In some countries, such collected data is sent back to the provider for KYC checks.

Agents role two – Educating the Customers

This is one of Agents main role in the mobile money ecosystem. They educate the customers on how the systems works, fraud, operations, support services. The quality of agents usually determines how well a mobilemoney platform will run or function. If the agents performs this role very well, the provider will make significant savings from resources and efforts in direct support services and marketing budget. Providers fraud alert services can be well managed at agent points as they are close to the end users and providers may not want to cause general panic whenever there are new fraud issues by issuing media wide fraud alerts. The agents are positioned to do this.

Agents Role Three : Cash in / Cash out

Agents are like mini Bank outlets where different services like utilities, remittances, P2P payment, banking services can be conducted. This is their main function and the main reason why they are in this business of agency services so as to earn a commission and also promote cross selling opportunities if they have an existing retail outlet that offers other services alongside the agency outlet.
Customers should be able to conduct most basic services at any outlet however in some instances, Agents may be graded according to their ability to perform certain types of services. Generally, most agents should be able to sell airtime and accept utilities payment but not all may be able to accept cash in or cash out. It could be for reasons of security, location, risk or liquidity.

Despite the attraction of becoming an agent and earning commissions, it is not all butter on the bread for the agent whom must balance risk, provide space, hire literate staff and manage additional security issues that might arise from this new relationship with a Bank or mobile money provider in His / Her community.

The Agent will need to commit to some level of Branding which may be provided by the provider, commit to a certain level of float which will be pre deposit and hire one or two staffs that will facilitate transactions at the agent’s outlet.

Getting the right blend of agents will be a major challenge in a country like Nigeria where most retail outlets are largely informal and concentrated in large urban and semi rural areas while the rural are served by small corner shop providers. The potential providers must look beyond what is obtainable in other countries like Kenya where MPESA has over 16,000 agent which is largely influenced by the market share of the parent company, Safaricom with over 75 percent share of the market at launch.
In our peculiar case, mobile operators are not allowed to play in this sector, directly and they may all commence operations at same time which does not confer any advantages to any of the providers.

As we approach the post licensing era for mobile money in Nigeria, only time will tell if it is a technology or agency race.

MTN, a leading mobile telecommunication service provider, has launched its latest product, MTN Mobile Money, in Cape Coast, with a call on the public to patronize the service and also spread the news to others.

The service, which was introduced in the country, last July, provides any mobile phone user with the option of opening and operating an electric wallet or a full bank account from their phone.

According to the Senior Manager of Mobile Money Implementation, Mr. Peter Bimpeh, subscribers of the service would enjoy a number of benefits, including sending money to colleagues and loved ones, paying utility bills without joining long queues and recharging their prepaid cards at their own convenience.
He noted that the rapid global change required MTN to offer the best services to its customers and also give them the opportunity to catch up with the latest trends in the financial world.

Mr. Bimpeh emphasized that the service did not only make daily payments smoother and efficient but also ensured utmost security in all its transactions. The service, he said, covered customers in the ongoing mandatory subscriber registration authorized by the National Communications Authority (NCA).

The Mobile Money Commercial Senior Manager of MTN Ghana, Mr. Eli Hini, said MTN remained committed to meeting the diverse needs of emerging markets by providing the best in world class telecommunications service.

He described the MTN Mobile Money service as convenient, safe, accessible, fast and secure. The MTN Mobile Money is supported by banks such as ECObank, Stanbic Bank, Zenith Bank, GT Bank, Cal Bank, among others.Eli

Saul Butera

As the country strives to increase the number of bank users, Rwandatel is now set to unveil its ‘Mobile Money’ service, partnering with the Bank of Kigali (BK) as the receiving bank.

The ‘mobile money’ service enables one to make a financial transaction using a mobile phone or any mobile device with SIM card technology.

During an exclusive interview with the Business Times, Rwandatel’s Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), Francis Egbuson revealed that Rwandatel is finalising paper documents with the regulator, the National Bank of Rwanda (NBR).

“We are planning to launch the service in the fourth quarter (Q4) of the year and we are very confident the service will be a success as we are taking lessons from our sister company, Uganda Telecom (UTL),” Egbuson said.

The operator will invest Rwf900 million in developing the service and the officials say that the service will be much easier to use and they believe it will attract a wide range of clients.

Libya African Investments Portfolio (LAP), the investment arm of the Libyan Government which owns 80 percent of Rwandatel is set to invest $94 million (Rwf53.6 billion) this year.

Egbuson said the money will be invested in upgrading the network, GSM sites, Fibre optic and in the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (Wimax) technology which the operator said is in the piloting phase and will be unveiled in the next 30 days.

Wimax is a telecommunications protocol that provides fixed and fully mobile Internet access. The current WiMAX revision provides up to 40 Mbit/s with the IEEE 802.16m update expected offer up to 1 Gbit/s fixed speeds.

However, Egbuson said that the issue is not to unveil the technology but its to provide and deliver what is made of the technology.

Rwandatel’s service comes at a time when the country’s leading operator by market share, MTN Rwanda, launched the service recently.

By Ilya Khrennikov and Eric Ombok

Equity Bank of Kenya, Kenya’s largest provider of small loans, plans to more than double the number of accountholders this year after forming a partnership with Safaricom Ltd., East Africa’s biggest mobile-network operator.

“This is providing an opportunity to open at least 5 million new accounts by the end of the year,” Chief Executive Officer James Mwangi said in an interview in Moscow today.

Safaricom and Equity Bank announced on May 18 an initiative where Kenyans will be able to open bank accounts through Safaricom’s mobile money-transfer service known as MPESA.

Branded Mkesho, the new service will allow Equity Bank, which has 4.5 million customers, to transform Safaricom’s more than 18,000 MPESA sales agents into mobile-banking agents. MPESA has almost 10 million customers, Pauline Vaughn, who runs the service, said June 23.

Equity Bank also plans to start a mortgage-lending unit and will allocate $200 million to the project, Mwangi said.

The bank owns 25 percent of Housing Finance Co., Kenya’s only publicly traded mortgage company. Housing Finance has doubled lending to 16 billion shillings ($195.8 million) since it began its partnership with Equity in July 2007. Equity Bank will continue issuing mortgages through Housing Finance even after it begins providing such loans directly, Mwangi said.

“We now would be able to do both,” Mwangi said.

Abu Bakarr Kargbo

One of Sierra Leone’s leading private commercial banks, Guaranty Trust Bank, continues to demonstrate its willingness to ensure that financial services reach the door-step of everybody. The bank recognizes the fact that not everybody has a bank account, and so therefore they have partnered with Splash Mobile Money for a smooth money transfer system. As a leading bank in Africa, GTBank is happy to have the Splash Mobile Money service in all its branches across the country. This move was commended by the Splash Mobile Money Managing Director, Michael P. Foley. He reiterated the fact that the bank is always willing to provide a quality and innovative service that benefit people in all works of life.
On Monday 28th June 2010, Splash Mobile Money launched the first Business Suite of Services called ‘SPLASHPAY’ at the Balmaya Restaurant at Congo Cross, Freetown.
Addressing a news conference, the Managing Director said they now have companies and other institutions paying their employees with Splash, and at the same time do transaction with other entities. He noted that they are planning to expand across the country, and by the end of the year they hope to have at least four hundred outlets.
Mr. Foley told the conference that SplashPay allows anyone with a mobile phone to make payments for goods and services at participating merchants free of charge for the consumer. “Splash’s network of 100 agents is now to grow through the addition of 100s of merchants who will provide their clients with the convenience of cashless transactions across the country,” the Managing Director said, and added that the use of SplashPay is similar to the use of a debit card.
A press release from Splash explained that clients of the three mobile companies will enjoy the SplashPay for free, and that all they have to do is to make a payment and send a free SMS to 700 in the following format: PAY (PERSONAL PIN NUMBER) (MERCHANT NUMBER) (AMOUNT). The merchant’s account, according to the release, will be credited instantly, and the client who sent the payment will receive a confirmatory receipt.
“This is a great convenience to customers and we look forward to welcome any merchant who wants to join to offer the service. All you need to do is call 700 and we will arrenge for one of our representatives to visit you. Joining as a merchant is free and requires no upfront working capital,” says the Managing Director.

JEVANS NYABIAGE

The man behind PesaPay, an online payment tool and founder of Verviant Consulting Services Mr Agosta Liko, has unveiled a new platform that will ease payment of school fees.
The innovation known as SchoolPay was launched at the Kenya Secondary School Heads Association meeting in Mombasa on Wednesday.
It is meant to enable institutions request and manage mobile payments from parents electronically.
Schools will be able to receive and track Zap, YuCash, M-Pesa and credit card payments for fees and special activities such as trips, activity fees, fund raisers and other impromptu events through the system. At the launch, more than 90 schools signed up to offer the service to their parents starting next term.
This is up from three schools that piloted the system designed to handle over 50,000 schools Second Term.
“Our approach is to enable any Kenyan with a mobile money product to pay online safely. We are in discussions with banks to enable them to allow their customers to pay online using bank products such as Hello Money and Bankika,” said Mr Liko.
He said that parents whose schools accept SchoolPay will save up to 80 per cent of the current costs associated with paying school fees.
This will also enable those who are abroad to pay fees using Visa, MasterCard and American Express.
SchoolPay uses PesaPal technology to track school fees payments from mobile money, PesaPoint or credit cards. “We are giving schools one free term and then we will charge Sh10,000 per term,” Mr Liko says.
Last year, Mr Liko launched PesaPal, which allows people to make payments online. Besides it, other forms of payments include MobiPay, JamboPay and iPay.