May 232013 African Business Review Bevan Ducasse of South African software business wiGroup discusses the problem of how to spend money sitting in mobile accounts and wallets South Africa already has a number of great money transfer solutions however the real challenge is not getting another banking app but rather finding locations for these applications to convert credit into cash as well as cash into credit says Bevan Ducasse ofwiGroup ldquoMobile money is growing tremendouslyrdquo said Ducasse ldquoEvery one of the big four banks as well asCapitechas a mobile banking solution and we haveMTNandVodacomoffering money transfer servic...[...read more]

May 172013 The Guardian UK Mobile money services can improve financial inclusion for women in Africa But operators must acknowledge and address the issues women face says DAIs Brigit Helms Its hard to imagine a more explosive transformative and empowering trend than the growth of the mobile phone sector in Africa In 1998 there were fewer than 4 million phones on the continent today there are around 800 million mdash a whopping 80 per cent penetration Compare this to the meager 24 per cent of African adults with bank accounts Experts expect there will be around 11 billion mobile phone subscribers by 2017 Women are likely to be at the...[...read more]

April 162013 JOCELYNE SAMBIRA africa renewal online The sight of teenagers selling mushrooms using mobile phones is becoming a familiar one in rural Namibia Namibia Polytechnic faculty member Maurice Nkusi designer of a cell phonebased curriculum told the TechDailyNews that most of these children have never even used a computer But the rapidity with which they master new technology reflects the era in which they are living This is the first generation to have direct access to high technology Cell phones today are nearly ubiquitous in African society Teenagers and young adults are obsessed by them carrying them around everywhere The Wo...[...read more]

March 82013 MKOPA KenyaLtd backed by a Royal Dutch Shell Plcfunded charity sees sales of its solarlighting system that allows users to pay by phone surging 13fold as mobile operators roll out banking services inAfrica The system a panel powering lights and a phone charger links to mobile banking services to allow customers to pay 40 Kenyan shillings 46 cents a day to use it MKOPA says The company plans to boost clients in Kenya to 100000 from about 7500 now and expand abroad in future Managing Director Jesse Moore said ldquoEast Africa is the right market for usrdquo Moore said in an interview in Nairobi last month ldquoI wouldnrsquot ...[...read more]

John Owens MobileMoneyforDevelopemt He will be speaking at the MobileMoneyExpo on Feb 6th 7th in Lagos Nigeria Recently my friend and colleague Brad Jones wrote a great article entitled ldquoMy Five Mobile Money Predictions for 2013rdquo I have included excerpts from this excellent article with a few of my own thoughts and predictions Here are Bradrsquos five predictions for 2013 Pakistan and Bangladesh will become the new stars of mobile money Agentinitiated over the counter transactions will be recognised as the lsquokiller apprsquo inmobile money Mobile money interoperability will become a reality in some markets ...[...read more]

KILLIAN CLIFFORD DIRECTOR MOBILEMONEYCONSULTING UK JANUARY 182013 ldquoThere has never been a more opportune time to make efficient payments in the corporate supply chain system than nowrdquoSanjiv Purushotham Senior Business Leader Business Expansion MasterCard Middle East Africa London UK January 2013Advancements in mobile payments technology will allow corporations to reduce their cost of cash sales by up to 20 according to a new white paper from Mobile Money Consulting Consumer goods companies operating in emerging markets are set to benefit most although developments in mobile payments sector will also have a positive impact f...[...read more]

The Economist January 18 2013 The use of prepaid mobilephone minutes as a currency Mobile money in Africa comes in different flavours The sophisticated sort exemplified by services such as MPesa in Kenya allows accountholders to transfer legal tender electronically to fellow accountholders by entering commands on a mobile phone Popular though such services are they have not stopped an older form of mobile money flourishing This sort uses prepaid mobileairtime minutes as a de facto currency that can be transferred between phones exchanged for cash with dealers who rent out phones or bartered for goods and services Prepaid minut...[...read more]

Herwig Stockl Head of Design Deployment Service Area MCommerce Ericsson JANUARY 172013 At the end of last year I was in Rwanda to visit our deployment team on the ground This visit was an excellent opportunity for me to see a country where mobile money was successfully established Even more exciting and something that stayed with me after I departed was the conversation I had with the woman seated next to me on my return flight She was a young Ugandan woman who asked me why I would travel all the way to Rwanda and Uganda to discuss mcommerce when they already have mobile wallets She also asked why I did not go to Switzerland ...[...read more]