When I was a child, I built a culture of saving money by using my local pot “Kibubu.” However my father was not happy with my plan, consequently he decided to take me to a bank to deposit my saving.

However, taking money to town where the banks are located is too risky. I ask myself, should I not go? How can I tell my father, who absolutely did not want to accept my rudimentary way of saving?

As I pondered this, the technology and innovation from the telecom sector answered my question as they have made saving money a lot easier in the recent days. 

What you need to have is just your mobile phone.

The recent innovation is Tigo Trust initiative, a system of awarding customers by sharing the profit obtained from what they have accumulated in their e-wallets over a period of time. Via this system, customers got more than what they bargained for.

Through this initiative, mobile money accounts owners are now pocketing a profit quarterly from their cash held in their accounts, giving them additional benefit from e-money service.  

According to Tigo, the dividends will benefit over 3.6 million Tigo Pesa users in the country, including the super and retail agents who form an integral part of the mobile money service’s network in Tanzania. 

It said that it has dished out a total of Tsh23.9 billion ($10.81 million) to its Tigo Pesa customers; the money has been collected as interest of the amount which spent overnight on the respective e-wallet.

The disbursement of this profit since July 2014 has benefitted all stakeholders of Tigo Pesa, which include its super agents, retail agents and consumers in general.

This has largely contributed in boosting economic mobility and ‘save for a rainy day culture’ through a new mobile e- wallet segment could easily spur the savings rate in middle income people. 

Data from the World Bank for the same year has also showed that while less than 29% of people aged 15 and above in the region had a traditional bank account, around 10% posse an alternative accessible by mobile phone.

According to World Bank statistics, 16% of Sub-Saharan mobile users have used their phones for banking purposes, a figure larger than any other global region and ripe for far wider use still.

Showing the importance of this new segment, the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) estimates that further development of mobile payment applications could generate as much as $1.5 billion in sales by 2019.

This is when the number of Africans possessing a mobile phone should increase by another 25%, “this segment is very new, with the numerous companies active in it, mainly being startups positioning themselves,” said BCG Consultant Othman Omary.

According to a last year report by the Swedish Telecom company, Ericsson showed that mobile subscriptions in Sub-Saharan set to surpass 635 million by the end of 2014, while the figure predicted to rise to around 930 million by the end of 2019.

“The average return which a stakeholder could receive varies based on their average daily balance in their e-wallet; either as a super-agent, retail agent or customer,” defines Andrew Hodgson the Head of Tigo Trust, a section which oversees all the Tigo Pesa transaction.

Speaking on what he has received as a team leader, Amos Mkanile who is doing business at Mbagala Rangi Tatu said that he did not expect what he was given because he was only doing his job, “I was doing my job, but far from that they awarded me with a handsome package,” he said.

“I started with 10 people and now I’m guiding 35 people, this gives me more strength in terms of management and handling of various business matters,” he detailed.

However, Mr Mkanile noted that there is a need for Tigo to provide more education concerning how the system works, “most people are not aware on how this thing works, they think by making more transactions using Tigo Pesa that when you get a huge profit while its not,” he added.

According to Mkanile, Tigo Trust pays more to those who works hard, basing on the fact that they always add money to their mobile money accounts, “this is more beneficial if you remain with a huge balance to your account, the balance should spend the night in your mobile account, this is the only way of gaining super profit,” he said.

He added that people think that they can gain interest by spending more money, while the reality is that, a person gains profit by making his/her wallet fat, and not by spending more, “you need to accumulate money in your account, it is only by this that a person will collect more profit during the disbursement,” he detailed.

Corroborating on that, Merycer Augustino who conducts business at Shekilango area, noted that most customers think a customer will gain profit by transacting using Tigo Pesa means while it is not true.

“They have to use it as a bank, that means the huge the e-wallet the more the profit and vice versa,” she hinted while urging Tigo Pesa customers to keep making their e-wallet fat.

According to the company’s former Interim General Manager Cecile Tiano, the company has so far distributed the billions of money basing on its motive to share the profit with its customers.

“We are sharing the profit with our customers, as this is the best way of showing how we care for them,” she said while adding that there is no way of showing how you care to your customers than dividing the profit which you have acquired.

During the disbursement which was done few weeks ago, Ms Tiano noted that the company has already paid out the mentioned sum in a series of quarterly distribution, following the Tsh3.35 billion ($1.51 million), Tsh14.25 billion ($6.42 million), Tsh3.1 billion ($1.40 million) and 3.3 billion ($1.50 million), paid out in July, September, December and April respectively, taking the total TigoPesa profit share distributed to its users to Tsh23.9 billion ($10.80 million) to date.

TigoPesa profit share distribution is a relief to millions of TigoPesa users as it will assist many in meeting their financial commitments in one of the financially challenging months. 

TigoPesa became the first mobile money service in the world to pay profit share to its users when the TigoPesa profit share distribution scheme was launched in July last year.

Presently, Tigo Tanzania is the biggest mobile telecom network in the country  with the largest customer base.

source:East African business week