Africans:Mobile but yet left Behind

According to the Dfid and other world economic organizations, significant numbers of Africans are still not enjoying formal Financial services of any form or at any level. This lack of access can significantly hold back progress on the Millennium Development Goals and restricts the degree to which poor people can benefit from the economic growth currently being enjoyed by many developing countries and in these challenging times of Global Financial crunch, it will help deepen the numbers and not improve it.

The major focus of Financial Institutions across Africa is to get out of the quagmire and they are not focusing, intentionally on the unbanked which still hold a significant chunk of the cash in the economy underneath their Bed pillows.In Nigeria and Ghana, less than 30 percent of the population are Banked.

Is it that they don’t want to engage them? Of course the do want to but they do not have a clear cut strategy to engage them. Mobile is the easiest and cheapest channel to engage, these millions of people.

The Mobile penetration in Africa is a success all across countries in Africa and more than 90 percent of phone users are mobile by technology while growth rate is predicted to continue as more Cities, towns and villages are covered by Mobile operators in the next few years.

The huge disconnection with the mass financially excluded Africans and Financial services can be bridged within a reasonable turn around time using the Mobile phone which in some cases, is the first technology tool that some Africans ever owned and a trusted means of conducting Businesses and reaching out to loved ones.

To make it work, International funding organizations will have to look beyond the financial institutions which in most cases, do not have a clear cut strategy for Mobile money, Mobile Operators with limited knowledge of Finances. The Ecosystem should be geared towards a creating local enabling environment, country by country that will tackle the obstacles to independent Mobile Money providers, educating regulators on the know-how, promoting entrepreneurs that are ready to take the risk to open up the sector and lay a sustainable foundation that will help it strive and achieve the dream of Financial inclusion for the Masses in Africa.

Without the directions of such knowledgeable bodies, most African operators and Banks will opt for what they had seen worked elsewhere, like MPesa but the reality is that, despite the success in Local Kenyan Market, the conditions that made it happen may be absent in other countries. In Mobile Money,there is no one size fits all technology.

While some technology may be Operator dependent or stand alone,likes of Fundamo, some others like NSDT of Tagattitude are Bank and Operator Independent, Txtnpay in West Africa, works with Banks and also,stands alone.

Africans deserve the best, having waited for so long. All stakeholders’ agenda setting should be the next focus and It is my sincere believe that some of these will be raised at the upcoming, MMT 09 conference at Dubai.




Emmanuel Okoegwale
Editor - MobileMoneyAfrica
emmanuel@mobilemoneyafrica.com


Mobile Money Directory :http://tinyurl.com/yhzmrle