The Helix Institute of Digital Finance to Present Cutting-Edge Data on Mobile Money Agents in Uganda

JAN 15,2014.

PRESS RELEASE. 

The Helix Institute of Digital Finance has today launched its first country assessment report in Uganda, based on over 2,000 mobile money agent surveys carried out in 2013 all over the country.  Uganda is among four African countries participating in the world-class research project, selected for its contribution to the development of digital financial services globally. The report focuses on the country’s factors for success in agent network management and what the industry needs to focus on in the next stages of development.

While launching the report Kimathi Githachuri, Head of The Helix Institute of Digital Finance and former Head of Warid Pesa (before the acquisition by Airtel Uganda), commented “The insights from Helix’s Uganda Report are very critical and present some unique findings which will assist us to develop standards and best practices in achieving sustainable digital financial service delivery across the world.”  Speaking at the same event, Mr. Samson Odele, the Uganda Country Manager at MicroSave noted that ‘…the financial sector in the country stood to gain immensely from the research findings and the courses offered at The Helix Institute of Digital Finance."

The other African countries surveyed in the four-year project include Kenya, Tanzania and Nigeria. In Asia the countries to be surveyed are India, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Pakistan. These eight countries are considered the world’s leading providers of mobile money and mobile banking services.   

The cutting-edge research project, a collaboration between the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and MicroSave, is the largest research project on agent networks in the world, designed to determine what drives their success and scale.  The information gathered from the Uganda country report will be infused into training courses offered through The Helix Institute of Digital Finance, the first training institute explicitly designed to equip industry leaders with effective strategies and powerful tools to build, manage, and grow mobile money agent networks in their respective markets.

The Helix Institute’s inaugural Advanced Agent Network Accelerator training courses, held in Nairobi Kenya, was attended by 22 participants from 11 countries, collectively serving over 410 million customers in their core business and over 23 million in their mobile money/mobile banking business. Participants included representatives from Airtel India, Tigo Tanzania, Grameenphone Bangladesh, Family Bank Kenya, Bank Sinar Harapan Bali Indonesia and EcoBank Ghana to name a few.

The Helix Institute will be running four Agent Network Accelerator training courses in 2014 in Nairobi, Kenya.  Next course dates are March 24^th-28^th for nascent markets and April 14^th-18^th for more advanced players. For more details, please visit www.helix-institute.com, email info@helix-institute.com or follow Helix on LinkedIn and Twitter.

About The Helix Institute of Digital Finance: The Helix Institute of Digital Finance was founded in November 2013 by MicroSave in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC). The Helix Institute provides world-class training and cutting-edge data for digital finance (mobile banking & mobile money) providers.

About MicroSave: MicroSave is a world-class consulting firm specializing in financial inclusion, with 15 years of experience in research, strategy and tailoring training curriculums for leading providers around the world. MicroSave has 10 offices around the world (India (3 offices), Kenya, Uganda, Indonesia, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Argentina and UK ) and 100+ staff managing projects in over 40 developing countries.