Malawi to launch study on Mobile Money

JAN 28,2014.

BIZTECHAFRICA.

Malawi is to launch into a study on how it can establish an autonomous Mobile Money Coordination Group (MMCG) that shall operate beyond the life of the current United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded Mobile Money Programme.

Under the Mobile Money Accelerator Program (MMAP) FHI 360 launched a USAID-funded project in October 2012 which focuses on scaling usage of mobile money to boost financial inclusion.

And the principal role of the Mobile Money Coordination Group (MMCG) whose membership is drawn from World Bank, Reserve Bank of Malawi, Bankers Association of Malawi, Malawi Microfinance Network, Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA), mobile network operators, Ministry of Finance and development partners is to coordinate activities to promote the expansion of mobile money in Malawi.

“Mobile money presents an opportunity to empower large segments of the population by providing access to finance through open access ecosystems enabled by mobile telecommunications networks,” says a statement from USAID and FHI 360 which calling for experts to do consultancy on MMCG.

The statement says the objective of the study will be to determine the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the current MMCG and to develop a set of recommendations to lead towards an autonomous MMCG that shall operate beyond the life of the current USAID funded Mobile Money Programme.

The current project focuses on three main areas which include increasing the demand for mobile money services, through public awareness campaigns, financial literacy training, and research and pilot activities; and strengthening the mobile money ecosystem, through provision of training, hands-on technical assistance, and dialogue facilitation to the public and private sector.

The third area is strengthening the legal and regulatory framework to enable mobile money.

FHI 360’s MMAP now seeks to engage a competent consultant to undertake an MMCG study that will generate recommendations to lead the MMCG to an autonomous set-up by among other things.