Nigeria Mobile Marketing
News and development about Mobile Marketing in Nigeria
Wednesday 1 April 2009, 3:48 PM
Tagattitude signs East African Mobile Payment deal
Tagattitude Nigeria, a subsidiary of the Global award winning mobile authentication solutions and payment provider, Tagattitude of France, has signed a deal with MobiPay of Kenya. Under the terms of the agreement, Mobipay will immediately purchase 2 million licenses for subscribers to Tagattitude’s mobile banking software, TagPAY. Mobipay will also purchase 1,000 TagPOS terminals and software for 125 ATM machines.
At the signing ceremony which took place at Lagos, Mobipay said it will launch Mobile payments and Money transfer services in the East Africa countries of Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Ethopia, Uganda, Rwanda and Sudan.
According to an ED of Tagattitude Nigeria, Emmanuel Okoegwale, ‘Mobipay’s launch of Near Sound Data Transfer (NSDT) technology using the TagnPay platform demonstrates the acceptance of the technology which enables all mobile users to use their Mobile phones for banking and payments services for the first time across all networks in Africa’ . The vision of the firm is to significantly promote financial inclusion for millions of unbanked people of Africa that do not have access to Banking services. The uniqueness of the technology which was demonstrated, can terminated transactions from the Mobile to mobile and to POS, ATM, Credit cards and locally issued debit cards without any need for the user to download any application to the phone. The TagPOS, which is the cheapest POS terminal in the world, is also part of the deal.
MobiPay Kenya, is part of the Cash4Africa Group, which has Remittance solutions and agreement in place with National Post offices in 10 countries in Africa including Nigeria and the also the Caribbean Islands. The Global sales Director of MobiPay, Edwin Momanyi, was visibly delighted to be the first to launch in the world most referenced country for Mobile payments, Kenya where Mpesa is currently a leading provider with 10 million monthly transactions. According to Momanyi, “The NSDT technology enables us to leap frog our remittance solutions and fully engage East Africans with an easy to use and clearly superior technology. Our hope is to purchase more licenses, terminals and ATM kits before the end of the year.”
Mobipay will offer mobile banking services through four leading Banks in Kenya and has already signed MOUs with banks in other countries.
Emmanuel Okoegwale
Mobile Payment Specialist
At the signing ceremony which took place at Lagos, Mobipay said it will launch Mobile payments and Money transfer services in the East Africa countries of Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Ethopia, Uganda, Rwanda and Sudan.
According to an ED of Tagattitude Nigeria, Emmanuel Okoegwale, ‘Mobipay’s launch of Near Sound Data Transfer (NSDT) technology using the TagnPay platform demonstrates the acceptance of the technology which enables all mobile users to use their Mobile phones for banking and payments services for the first time across all networks in Africa’ . The vision of the firm is to significantly promote financial inclusion for millions of unbanked people of Africa that do not have access to Banking services. The uniqueness of the technology which was demonstrated, can terminated transactions from the Mobile to mobile and to POS, ATM, Credit cards and locally issued debit cards without any need for the user to download any application to the phone. The TagPOS, which is the cheapest POS terminal in the world, is also part of the deal.
MobiPay Kenya, is part of the Cash4Africa Group, which has Remittance solutions and agreement in place with National Post offices in 10 countries in Africa including Nigeria and the also the Caribbean Islands. The Global sales Director of MobiPay, Edwin Momanyi, was visibly delighted to be the first to launch in the world most referenced country for Mobile payments, Kenya where Mpesa is currently a leading provider with 10 million monthly transactions. According to Momanyi, “The NSDT technology enables us to leap frog our remittance solutions and fully engage East Africans with an easy to use and clearly superior technology. Our hope is to purchase more licenses, terminals and ATM kits before the end of the year.”
Mobipay will offer mobile banking services through four leading Banks in Kenya and has already signed MOUs with banks in other countries.
Emmanuel Okoegwale
Mobile Payment Specialist
Wednesday 1 April 2009, 10:46 AM
Democratic Visa card for All Africans
Full text of the Interview with the VP - GTPLimited during His visit to Lagos - Nigeria.
Emmanuel : International Visa and MasterCard Processors with their new technology are catching up fast in Africa and Nigeria, how is the Global Technology Partners (GTP) card model different from others in the market now?
Dearman: The primary difference in the models will be that the GTP platform will open up full banking services to ALL Africans, not just the “bankable” Africans. With over 10 years of experience in the US markets, the GTP group of affiliated companies now provide payroll services for some of the largest companies in America, saving these companies millions of dollars a year by using a prepaid card. GTP is a specialized processor (100% prepaid experts) that works closely with banks to implement successful programs leveraging our experience. With our card to card transfer feature, one family member can be in Lagos with a card, the other in the UK, Italy or France and send money in real time through the GTP proprietary remittance system. The system allows for a “real time” transfer of up to $10,000 USD a day for only a few dollars or whatever fee the bank sets. The consumer will see significant savings for not having to use the traditional money transfer/remittance companies that can charge up to 10 times what the cost is using the GTP system. Each consumer will receive an SMS alert that the funds were sent, and that the funds were received on each of their cell phones by SMS and the funds are loaded onto the Visa card for immediate use at an ATM or POS merchant. The GTP system was built strictly for prepaid. We do not have to integrate with the banks as many of our competitors do, so if the bank is a current Visa issuing member, we can have them marketing their custom Visa prepaid card in less than 90-120 days. Most of our competitors take 5-10 months. GTP handles the program mostly in a turn key fashion for the bank, making it an easy integration for the financial institutions. System security and compliance are paramount to the GTP system; we staff a full time compliance officer to work closely with the banks for all KYC and AML requirements. The GTP system is also currently being integrated with a mobile provider to allow full functionality on your mobile handset to use on WAP enabled phones or by SMS to move funds. We will also allow mobile top up from texting to a certain number and the amount of top up will be deducted from your Visa card balance and the top up PIN will be sent by SMS. This will eliminate the use for mobile scratch off top up cards.
Emmanuel: Can you please give us an assessment of prepaid card Business in Africa, generally?
Dearman: GTP brought the first Prepaid Visa “Classic” card to West Africa in December of 2007 with BIB bank in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (Africards Visa Card) who sponsored the program. BIB won the award for bringing the newest technology in card programs to the region. BIB’s card program has been highly successful and consumers are enjoying the benefits of having the first Prepaid Visa “Classic” re-loadable card in the region that can be used worldwide. The prepaid market in Africa is still in its infancy stages. The more aggressive banks are beginning their prepaid programs now, and GTP feels these banks will be the dominant and successful players in the market as they will continue to learn and adapt to the consumer needs. The processor plays an important role to assist the bank as a partner, not as a vendor. Many of the current prepaid cards are not Visa classic cards and cannot be used “out of country” or do not have the money remittance or mobile features as the GTP product. The current cards in Africa are generally only used for payroll type cards without the feature rich add ons that GTP’s system provides.
Emmanuel :How is GTP Limited positioned to give value and change the Market dynamics?
Dearman: Since GTP is a Visa approved international processor, we work with the banks to create a financial model that works for the consumer. Our experience has taught us that the consumer must see the value proposition in the product before they will give it a test drive. It’s also imperative to have value added features tied into the card for additional consumer benefits. Our goal is to save money for the consumer on money remittance and provide alternate options to provide more convenience in their life. Prepaid cards typically provide a solution, to an existing problem for consumers, particularly those that are currently locked out of the financial system, making their life easier while saving money.
Emmanuel :Many users have reservations for prepaid cards when it comes to security, what are you offering that will give Users, rest of mind?
Dearman: It’s the prepaid card that gives this security to the consumer. Consumers would rather shop online with a prepaid card and NOT their credit card or debit card as that could compromise their primary banking account cards or have issue with identity theft. With prepaid, you load the value onto the card and use as you wish, with the risk limited to the amount loaded rather than the cardholders entire bank account or credit lineVisa also stands behind the product and should the card ever be lost or stolen, we replace the card with the balance that was on it before.
Emmanuel :Your footprints in Africa
Dearman: GTP has been working in Africa for more than 3 years now and was the first to enter the prepaid sector with the features our system deploys. We are working with many major financial institutions to bring this product and technology to the continent. We performed our pilot in Burkina Faso, and have begun implementation with the CTMI for the West African region. We have other banks we are working with in Cameroon, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, Nigeria, Gambia and Kenya. (And others)
Emmanuel :Nigeria roll out plans and local partners
Dearman: GTP is in current discussions with various large Nigerian banking partners and cannot disclose these partners at this time. We will be able to make an announcement within the next 30 days as to who these partners will be.
Emmanuel : Benefits for financial Institutions, merchants and end users
Dearman: Under the current worldwide financial crisis, financial institutions are looking for additional income streams to strengthen their balance sheets. The Prepaid sector provides the bank a new consumer and a new income stream, thus increasing their deposits and increasing the banks profitability. Merchants will have more POS machines making it more convenient to the consumer to make additional purchases without having to carry so much cash. The end user will save money with the money remittance card to card transfer capability. Being an American based company, we are in the process of issuing a Visa card to the Nigerians in America, tied in with the card issued in Nigeria for a turn key card solution for Nigerians in America and in Nigeria. We will than develop the same process for the UK, France and Italy.
Emmanuel : How Does Visa deliver better value than other Prepaid cards?
Dearman: Visa is the primary brand in Africa. In the West African region, Visa and its member banks have more ATM machines than any other network.
Emmanuel: Regulatory compliance for cards is a major challenge, what are your strategies in this direction.
Dearman: GTP works with the banks under the rules of each specific country along with the Central Bank. The cards do require a form of government issued ID and a signed application to mitigate AML and Know Your Customer requirements. Our platform is a flexible system that can be modified to allow for velocity limitations to comply with local law.
Emmanuel :Market positions in US
Dearman :Our CEO Mr. Bob Merrick co-founded FSV Payment Systems that is now the 3rd largest processor for prepaid cards in the US. We began GTP about 4 years ago as our international division to expand into the underserved regions and GTP has made Africa a strategic growth initiative for the next 5 years. At GTP, we are prepaid experts and not a group that provides multiple banking services as most competitors. Prepaid is a new channel for financial institutions and there is a certain spirit that will separate the winners from the losers. We at GTP feel that with our experience, our banking partners will be the leaders among their competitors.
Emmanuel : Is GTP Limited looking at opening a local office or working through partnership
Dearman: GTP has formed a local company in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire and is currently opening an office in Abidjan. We will also be opening an office later in the year in Lagos, Nigeria and Accra, Ghana. We are currently discussing the idea of forming a new company and bringing in an African partner to assist us in these operations on an exclusive basis for the entire continent of Africa.
Emmanuel :Is Nigerian Market ripe for mass prepaid cards adoptions?
Dearman: Definitely. The GTP prepaid platform with its feature rich advantages will transform the way Nigerians conduct their financial business. I see Nigeria as a prime market that will be the top market for prepaid in Africa.
Emmanuel :Product Lines.
Dearman :GTP product lines include the basic general spend reloadable Visa Card, an International Money Remittance Visa Card, Visa Payroll Cards, Travel and Expense Cards, Vendor Payment Cards and Consumer/Merchant Gift Cards
Emmanuel: Any plans for Financial inclusion for the unbanked and Microfinance in Nigeria?
Dearman: We are in current discussions with many microfinance groups in Nigeria and others across Africa. This product will revolutionize the manner in which the unbanked can now enter the financial mainstream and be able to remit money at a very low cost.
Emmanuel :Lastly, what should Nigerians expect?
Dearman :Nigerians should expect by 3rd Qtr of 2009 to have a Visa prepaid product that can be issued to almost anyone regardless of their financial stature and enter the worldwide financial mainstream. They will now have the “options” that the other developed nations take for granted. No bank account will be needed; the card IS your bank account. In the United States alone it is estimated that by 2010 there will be more than 7 billion transactions and $175 billion in volume with a 15 percent growth rate. The reloadable prepaid card has grown at a 40 percent annual rate. It is this industry expert’s opinion that Nigeria will see a similar growth rate or even higher rate when banks begin to connect to processors such as Global Technology Partners (GTP) to offer this feature rich product to the Nigerian consumer with all the value added services, mobile interfaces and card to card features. For more information you can visit www.gtplimited.com or email websales@gtplimited.com.
GTPlimited's Contacts.
David E. Dearman
Executive Vice President
Global Technology Partners, LLC
ddearman@gtplimited.com
001-501-339-4472 (USA)
Emmanuel : International Visa and MasterCard Processors with their new technology are catching up fast in Africa and Nigeria, how is the Global Technology Partners (GTP) card model different from others in the market now?
Dearman: The primary difference in the models will be that the GTP platform will open up full banking services to ALL Africans, not just the “bankable” Africans. With over 10 years of experience in the US markets, the GTP group of affiliated companies now provide payroll services for some of the largest companies in America, saving these companies millions of dollars a year by using a prepaid card. GTP is a specialized processor (100% prepaid experts) that works closely with banks to implement successful programs leveraging our experience. With our card to card transfer feature, one family member can be in Lagos with a card, the other in the UK, Italy or France and send money in real time through the GTP proprietary remittance system. The system allows for a “real time” transfer of up to $10,000 USD a day for only a few dollars or whatever fee the bank sets. The consumer will see significant savings for not having to use the traditional money transfer/remittance companies that can charge up to 10 times what the cost is using the GTP system. Each consumer will receive an SMS alert that the funds were sent, and that the funds were received on each of their cell phones by SMS and the funds are loaded onto the Visa card for immediate use at an ATM or POS merchant. The GTP system was built strictly for prepaid. We do not have to integrate with the banks as many of our competitors do, so if the bank is a current Visa issuing member, we can have them marketing their custom Visa prepaid card in less than 90-120 days. Most of our competitors take 5-10 months. GTP handles the program mostly in a turn key fashion for the bank, making it an easy integration for the financial institutions. System security and compliance are paramount to the GTP system; we staff a full time compliance officer to work closely with the banks for all KYC and AML requirements. The GTP system is also currently being integrated with a mobile provider to allow full functionality on your mobile handset to use on WAP enabled phones or by SMS to move funds. We will also allow mobile top up from texting to a certain number and the amount of top up will be deducted from your Visa card balance and the top up PIN will be sent by SMS. This will eliminate the use for mobile scratch off top up cards.
Emmanuel: Can you please give us an assessment of prepaid card Business in Africa, generally?
Dearman: GTP brought the first Prepaid Visa “Classic” card to West Africa in December of 2007 with BIB bank in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (Africards Visa Card) who sponsored the program. BIB won the award for bringing the newest technology in card programs to the region. BIB’s card program has been highly successful and consumers are enjoying the benefits of having the first Prepaid Visa “Classic” re-loadable card in the region that can be used worldwide. The prepaid market in Africa is still in its infancy stages. The more aggressive banks are beginning their prepaid programs now, and GTP feels these banks will be the dominant and successful players in the market as they will continue to learn and adapt to the consumer needs. The processor plays an important role to assist the bank as a partner, not as a vendor. Many of the current prepaid cards are not Visa classic cards and cannot be used “out of country” or do not have the money remittance or mobile features as the GTP product. The current cards in Africa are generally only used for payroll type cards without the feature rich add ons that GTP’s system provides.
Emmanuel :How is GTP Limited positioned to give value and change the Market dynamics?
Dearman: Since GTP is a Visa approved international processor, we work with the banks to create a financial model that works for the consumer. Our experience has taught us that the consumer must see the value proposition in the product before they will give it a test drive. It’s also imperative to have value added features tied into the card for additional consumer benefits. Our goal is to save money for the consumer on money remittance and provide alternate options to provide more convenience in their life. Prepaid cards typically provide a solution, to an existing problem for consumers, particularly those that are currently locked out of the financial system, making their life easier while saving money.
Emmanuel :Many users have reservations for prepaid cards when it comes to security, what are you offering that will give Users, rest of mind?
Dearman: It’s the prepaid card that gives this security to the consumer. Consumers would rather shop online with a prepaid card and NOT their credit card or debit card as that could compromise their primary banking account cards or have issue with identity theft. With prepaid, you load the value onto the card and use as you wish, with the risk limited to the amount loaded rather than the cardholders entire bank account or credit lineVisa also stands behind the product and should the card ever be lost or stolen, we replace the card with the balance that was on it before.
Emmanuel :Your footprints in Africa
Dearman: GTP has been working in Africa for more than 3 years now and was the first to enter the prepaid sector with the features our system deploys. We are working with many major financial institutions to bring this product and technology to the continent. We performed our pilot in Burkina Faso, and have begun implementation with the CTMI for the West African region. We have other banks we are working with in Cameroon, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, Nigeria, Gambia and Kenya. (And others)
Emmanuel :Nigeria roll out plans and local partners
Dearman: GTP is in current discussions with various large Nigerian banking partners and cannot disclose these partners at this time. We will be able to make an announcement within the next 30 days as to who these partners will be.
Emmanuel : Benefits for financial Institutions, merchants and end users
Dearman: Under the current worldwide financial crisis, financial institutions are looking for additional income streams to strengthen their balance sheets. The Prepaid sector provides the bank a new consumer and a new income stream, thus increasing their deposits and increasing the banks profitability. Merchants will have more POS machines making it more convenient to the consumer to make additional purchases without having to carry so much cash. The end user will save money with the money remittance card to card transfer capability. Being an American based company, we are in the process of issuing a Visa card to the Nigerians in America, tied in with the card issued in Nigeria for a turn key card solution for Nigerians in America and in Nigeria. We will than develop the same process for the UK, France and Italy.
Emmanuel : How Does Visa deliver better value than other Prepaid cards?
Dearman: Visa is the primary brand in Africa. In the West African region, Visa and its member banks have more ATM machines than any other network.
Emmanuel: Regulatory compliance for cards is a major challenge, what are your strategies in this direction.
Dearman: GTP works with the banks under the rules of each specific country along with the Central Bank. The cards do require a form of government issued ID and a signed application to mitigate AML and Know Your Customer requirements. Our platform is a flexible system that can be modified to allow for velocity limitations to comply with local law.
Emmanuel :Market positions in US
Dearman :Our CEO Mr. Bob Merrick co-founded FSV Payment Systems that is now the 3rd largest processor for prepaid cards in the US. We began GTP about 4 years ago as our international division to expand into the underserved regions and GTP has made Africa a strategic growth initiative for the next 5 years. At GTP, we are prepaid experts and not a group that provides multiple banking services as most competitors. Prepaid is a new channel for financial institutions and there is a certain spirit that will separate the winners from the losers. We at GTP feel that with our experience, our banking partners will be the leaders among their competitors.
Emmanuel : Is GTP Limited looking at opening a local office or working through partnership
Dearman: GTP has formed a local company in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire and is currently opening an office in Abidjan. We will also be opening an office later in the year in Lagos, Nigeria and Accra, Ghana. We are currently discussing the idea of forming a new company and bringing in an African partner to assist us in these operations on an exclusive basis for the entire continent of Africa.
Emmanuel :Is Nigerian Market ripe for mass prepaid cards adoptions?
Dearman: Definitely. The GTP prepaid platform with its feature rich advantages will transform the way Nigerians conduct their financial business. I see Nigeria as a prime market that will be the top market for prepaid in Africa.
Emmanuel :Product Lines.
Dearman :GTP product lines include the basic general spend reloadable Visa Card, an International Money Remittance Visa Card, Visa Payroll Cards, Travel and Expense Cards, Vendor Payment Cards and Consumer/Merchant Gift Cards
Emmanuel: Any plans for Financial inclusion for the unbanked and Microfinance in Nigeria?
Dearman: We are in current discussions with many microfinance groups in Nigeria and others across Africa. This product will revolutionize the manner in which the unbanked can now enter the financial mainstream and be able to remit money at a very low cost.
Emmanuel :Lastly, what should Nigerians expect?
Dearman :Nigerians should expect by 3rd Qtr of 2009 to have a Visa prepaid product that can be issued to almost anyone regardless of their financial stature and enter the worldwide financial mainstream. They will now have the “options” that the other developed nations take for granted. No bank account will be needed; the card IS your bank account. In the United States alone it is estimated that by 2010 there will be more than 7 billion transactions and $175 billion in volume with a 15 percent growth rate. The reloadable prepaid card has grown at a 40 percent annual rate. It is this industry expert’s opinion that Nigeria will see a similar growth rate or even higher rate when banks begin to connect to processors such as Global Technology Partners (GTP) to offer this feature rich product to the Nigerian consumer with all the value added services, mobile interfaces and card to card features. For more information you can visit www.gtplimited.com or email websales@gtplimited.com.
GTPlimited's Contacts.
David E. Dearman
Executive Vice President
Global Technology Partners, LLC
ddearman@gtplimited.com
001-501-339-4472 (USA)
