Do You Think Nigeria Is a Fertile Ground For Mobile Money??

Nigeria’s long awaited foray into the Mobile Money Transfer (MMT) terrain has begun. As many as two thirds of mobile phone users in Nigeria who do not currently access formal financial services, with majority of them living in rural communities and fringe urban areas may now have a new time with the introduction of mobile cash . While this may create more jobs, it is also safe and fast! KEHINDE OLESIN reports
The idea is not new. Even in Africa, MPesa has reached out to millions of people. M-PESA is a branchless banking service, meaning that it is designed to enable users to complete basic banking transactions without the need to visit a bank branch. The continuing success of M-PESA, especially, in Kenya, has been due to the creation of a highly popular, affordable payment service with only limited involvement of a bank. The system was developed and ran by Sagentia from initial development to the 6 million customer mark. The service has now been transitioned to be operationally run by IBM Global Services on behalf of Vodafone, the initial 3 markets (Kenya, Tanzania & Afghanistan) are hosted between Rackspace and Vodafone.
In September 2010, Vodacom and Nedbank announced the launch of the service in South Africa where it is estimated that there are more than 13 million “economically active” people without a bank account.
However, the success of the mobile cash wave which has just got to Nigeria will be determined by existing fundamentals.
Many financial and telco companies are already involved in the business. For example, GTBank Plc entered into a strategic partnership with MTN Nigeria and Fortis Microfinance Bank , to launch Mobile Money. Mobile Money is targeted at the over 65% unbanked population of the county.
Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, GTBank Plc, Mr. Segun Agbaje, said that Mobile Money will help mobilise funds from the unbanked and channel the funds to productive sectors of the economy where the funds are needed. Mobile Money, he said, will afford subscribers the opportunity to transfer money, pay bills, top up on airtime and shop from their mobile phones, among others.
According to him, financial inclusion is what the product is about, especially as it will help bring the unbanked into the banking system, through simple technological inputs and devices. Financial inclusion will help drive the growth and development of the Nigerian economy, as funds will be made available to critical sectors in need of funding. Nigerian mobile money model according to Agbaje is different from others around the world and is designed to provide immense benefits for the economy