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Agriculture, Food Security & Rural Development, Areas of Expertise, Information and Communication Technology for Development, Mobile Money, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Can this be an Opportunity for Mobile Banking in Ethiopia?

Photo Credit: The Economist

I participated in a very informative event this week in Washington DC where a researcher was sharing his experience on “Weather-Index based Crop Insurance for Smallholder Farmers in Ethiopia”. As I listened to the discussion as an agricultural information specialist, my concern was what is the role of mobile technologies in this?

According to the researcher, Dr. Shukri Ahmed a Senior Economist, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the concept of crop insurance has a long history from Asia with the leadership of India. However, due to the challenges associated with insurance in general and access to credit to smallholder farmers, the idea somehow waned. But according to Index Insurance Innovation Initiative (I4), there is overwhelming evidence that uninsured risk can drive people into poverty and destitution, especially those in low-wealth agricultural and pastoralist households. There is therefore a re-emergence of insurance for smallholder farmers across the globe.

The speaker gave a detailed background to the study in Ethiopia and the importance of partnership in the design and implementation of the study. The difference, however, with this new approach to crop insurance for smallholder farmers is the use of index (indices) to support the insurance service, and intervention against emergency situation. But at the same time the study is targeting farmers that are relatively better off and who are already engaged in the market but are not investing in insurance due to the anticipated risks. The outcome of the pilot study is expected to help protect the livelihoods of smallholder farmers, who are vulnerable to severe and catastrophic weather risks particularly drought, enhance their access to agricultural inputs, and enable the development of ex-ante market based risk management mechanism which can be scalable in Ethiopia.

Dr. Shukri Ahmed, Senior Economist at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

Unbanked or Branchless Services

Adding another concept to an already very complex issue that tries to combine weather, insurance, credit/finance, and smallholder farming, should be carefully considered. But the key question is whether mobile technologies can play a catalytic role in this entire complex system?

Among the reasons for choosing a given area for the pilot study, include availability of Nyala Bank branches, the vulnerability of yields to drought, the availability of nearby weather stations, and the willingness of cooperatives in the area to purchase the new product. As the pilot study progresses, the possibility of scaling the project across the country is high. But what will be the implications for the absence of banks in the rural farming communities in a country that has an approximately one bank loan per 1000 adults? Can Mobile Banking help understand why smallholder farmers under-investment in agriculture?

A success story of mobile banking by the Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited (DBBL) in Bangladesh was recently highlighted by the GSMA Mobile Money for the Unbanked. Interestingly, the story pointed out how DBBL learnt from Kenya’s famous mobile money program M-PESA. Kilimo Salama (KS) is an innovative index-based insurance product that insures farmers’ inputs (seeds, fertilizer, pesticides), and outputs (crop harvests), in the event of drought or excessive rainfall. It uses weather stations to collect data and implements SMS-based mobile technologies to administer and distribute the payouts. Mobile technologies will not only help with the financial transactions such as seen in Kilimo Salama’s case but also in support of the weather stations for timely and accurate decision making for pay-outs.

My conversation with Dr Shukri about the possibility of integrating mobile money into the project to address the challenge of absence of banks in rural Ethiopia, revealed the huge untapped market for Mobile Banking in that country. However, the success of such services depends on a convincing business case for both the banks and Mobile Network Operators (MNOs). Most importantly, however, is the state of telecommunication infrastructure and regulation in the country. These need to be in place for services and applications to thrive. With this huge investment

Outside Ethiopia, I believe it is time for African countries to take advantage of the increasing mobile phone penetrations in the continent beyond social networking to general development applications such as for agriculture, health, education, and rural development.

To listen to the audio recording of the event, visit Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

August 25, 2012/by actualize

Mobile Money, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

A Framework to Extending Financial Inclusion throughout Africa via ICT

Cover for the eTransform Africa: Financial Services Sector Study

Photo Credit: Vital Wave Consulting

A report was recently released, through the eTransform Africa initiative, explaining and outlining a framework to leverage ICTs to increase financial inclusion across the continent. Written by Vital Wave Consulting and entitled eTransform Africa: Financial Services Sector Study – Sector Assessment and Opportunities for ICT, it was released as a part of a larger initiative that was commissioned by the World Bank and the African Development Bank (and supported by the African Union) to explore how ICTs can improve business models in key sectors in Africa. The sectors include: agriculture, climate change adaptation, education, health, ICT competitiveness, public services, trade and regional integration, as well as a report on cross-cutting issues.

The goal of each sector report is to share knowledge and provide an actionable framework for how ICT can be utilized by traditional and new organizations in the for-profit and social sectors, including African Governments themselves and members of the international development community.

For the Financial Services Sector Study, the creators of the report decided to focus specifically on how ICT can improve financial inclusion. This focus was driven by the fact that less than 20% of households in Africa have access to formal financial services. The reason for these low numbers includes the high percentage of population who live rural regions, poor transportation infrastructure, and limited communications infrastructure.

Opportunities and Challenges

The report identifies three major challenges areas to the utilization of ICT to expand formal financial services to the unbanked: 1) Consumer/End User, 2) Governing/Regulatory, and 3) Market Maturity and Underpinning Infrastructure.

For “Consumer/End User”, the challenges include: transient and remote populations; understanding of consumer needs; general and financial literacy of consumers; increasing trust in banking institutions; and, small and medium enterprise (SME) access to capital. In order to combat these challenges, the report states that initiatives have already started which include mobile payment systems, the development of products specifically for the local consumer, and innovative solutions to expanding capital to SME.

For “Governing/Regulatory”, the challenges are: lack of identification documents; moveable assets; fragmented collateral data; and, corruption. Currently there is a push to battle these challenges by increasing identification through SIM registration and developing collateral registries.

Finally, for “Market Maturity and Underpinning Infrastructure”, the challenges are focused around: the implementation and use of IT banking information systems in microfinance institutions (MFI) and high interest rates. To solve these challenges, the report states that SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) can be utilized to cut down IT costs and increasing the amount of credit bureaus can offer lower the interest rates offered to members.

Recommendations

Given the goal of the report to assist government agencies, policy makers and donors – the recommendations were classified into two areas: 1) Market Maturity and 2) Addressing the specific challenges listed above (by consumer, government, and private sector). Since Africa is such a diverse region – with wide variance in terms of culture, socio-economics, governmental structures, and infrastructure – the authors smartly classified their recommendations. Government agencies and donors can locate the appropriate segment and then seek the relevant advice.

The authors created three segments – or categories – to classify recommendations based on degree of market maturity: 1) Formative State (new and developing market with limited adoption and competition), 2) Scaling State (adoption rates starting to pick up and regulation being implemented in order to generate competition), and 3) Desired State (mass adoption of products/services and a competitive environment). Agencies and donors then can see which opportunities are available in their current state to increase financial inclusion, such as: mobile banking, product diversification, identification, SME access to capital, backend systems, credit bureaus, and collateral registries. It gives them a framework to analyze their current financial services industry and access where the gaps of inclusions are.

While the policy recommendations focus on how governments should move forward strategically in each country, the donor recommendations focus on these actors’ greatest resource – money. The donor recommendations use a similar structure (formative, scaling, and desired states), but there were a few opportunities that continue to show up throughout the research. These include: “reducing private sector risks by underwriting the risk of ‘first mover,’ reducing shared costs by underwriting supporting systems that are common among all financial service players, and leveraging limited donor resources to drive private and consumer action towards desired financial service sector goals.”

A Must Read

This report is a great read, especially for those who are interested in how ICT can be leveraged in financial services in developing countries. The report’s appendixes are especially interesting as they include extensive information about policies and products currently in use in mobile banking throughout the continent.

But, the best aspect of the report is that the authors truly understand the complexity of both the financial services sector and the diversity of African nations. Having read and written about many similar reports, there seems to be a lack of understanding that there are countless variables that must be accounted for when providing recommendations. Simply because an idea or best practice worked in one region does not mean it is the universal truth.

Vital Wave Consulting did a great job developing a framework for government agencies and donors, who are both experts on the regions, to analyze their own markets and see which opportunities they have not taken advantage of yet or where the possible challenges are. Instead of giving detailed advice, the report builds a framework for government agencies and donors to analyze their markets and gain insight into how ICT can improve financial inclusion in their country.

April 23, 2012/by actualize

Mobile Money, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Will Western Union Be the Catalyst for Mobile Money in Latin America and the Caribbean?

The most well-known mobile money implementation in Latin American and the Caribbean has been in Haiti. But with a large and diverse population of mobile phone users (460 million!) in Latin America and an estimated 35% of adults with an established bank account, it would seem clear that mobile money (or mobile financial services – MFS) should have taken off. Yet, besides Haiti, MFS have been almost none existent.

Photo Credit: insightVas.com

Many arguments have been made for this. Back in 2010, the GSMA interviewed Serge Elkiner, President and Founder of YellowPaper. YellowPaper developed technology for users to access MFS in Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Bolivia, Haiti, and Panama. He mentioned that one of the reasons for the lagging of MFS in Latin America is government regulation. Other reasons include a lack of desire by MNOs to launch MFS products, money transfer services not adopting mobile transfer platforms, the already well-established financial service sector in the region, and the size of the many of the economies throughout the region.

Recently there have been movements in MFS in the region. As mentioned before on this blog, Red Cloud Technology along with BlueOrchard and other has invested $1.2 million in Nube Roja, Bolivia’s first mobile money platform. Telefonica has teamed with MasterCard on a joint venture last year to expand financial services in 12 Latin American countries. Finally Western Union has entered the mobile transfer market in Latin America by partnering with Tigo in Paraguay. Customers using Giros Tigo (Tigo Cash) will be able to receive money from other countries via their mobile phones. The service will begin in Paraguay and then be implemented in other countries in the region on a rolling basis. Giros Tigo has been providing MFS for over 18 months and the partnership with Western Union is an addition to the services provided to customers.

But MFS move forward in the region, what will be the catalyst to move it to wide spread adoption? In Haiti, the catalyst was the investment made by the Gates Foundation. Clearly there was a need for the people in the country to access formal financial services. But until there is a business case (ie profit can be made), the private sector will not move quickly enough to provide products and services that can scale and are user focused.

With remittances playing such a large role in the economies of Latin America, the ability to receive them via mobile phones could be the spark. On annual basis, Latin America and the Caribbean receive more than $60 billion in remittances. But it has continued to be processed through the traditional practices of Western Union and MoneyGram. Western Union has been making a push mobilize their services (as seen above), but time will tell if it can create the spark for individuals to start adopting MFS in Latin America.

April 15, 2012/by actualize

Mobile Money, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

M-PESA extends its reach

The following is a guest post by Billy Jack from Georgetown University’s Economics Department and Tavneet Suri from MIT’s Sloan School of Management.

Man talking on cell phone next to an M-PESA to up stand New data from the fourth round of a survey of Kenyan households confirm what every visitor to this East African nation knows: the spread of mobile technology and its adoption by broad swathes of the population continues. Probably the most successful of all the innovative mobile solutions is M-PESA, Safaricom’s mobile banking product that allows users to send money across the country (and recently, beyond) in an instant, as well as providing a safe and secure savings instrument, and a convenient bill payment capacity.

Launched in March 2007, M-PESA was originally going to be “banking for the unbanked” and “financial services for the poor.” While members of the economically marginalized population did adopt the service early on, the first rounds of our survey showed that up-take was nonetheless concentrated amongst those who were relatively better off. It was natural to ask whether M-PESA would show the same pattern of adoption as so many other promising technologies in the developing world – from hybrid seed to insecticide-treated bed nets, from seat belts to solar panels – with those at the bottom of the pyramid struggling to exploit the potential benefits.

Through technological efficiency, user-friendly design, marketing acumen, an explosion of cash-in/cash-out agents, regulatory largesse, and perhaps some luck, M-PESA is now used by 86 percent of households outside Nairobi. Of particular importance however is the changing pattern of utilization, as adoption spreads to the lower strata of the socio-economic ladder.

Our data, which is representative of most of Kenya outside the capital (where M-PESA is ubiquitous), shows a growing share of lower income households using M-PESA. For this population, median per capita consumption is low, a few cents less than $2 per day; and the bottom 25 percent of the population live on $1.10 per day or less. Our survey, which tracked the same households over a four-year period, found that in 2008, households with consumption above the median were nearly three times as likely to use M-PESA as those in the bottom quartile. In particular, half of those in the top half used M-PESA, while only 18% of those in the bottom quarter did so. Utilization among those in the second poorest quartile was intermediate, about a third (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: M-PESA use by daily per capita consumption

M-PESA has grown in all strata of the population, and while those at the top remain more likely to use the service, the gap between the top and bottom has narrowed substantially, partly due to the steady increase among the poor, and partly due to saturation among the better off. But concentrating on the gap between rich and poor is less informative than focusing on the simple fact that nearly three-quarters of the bottom quartile have adopted a service that five years ago did not exist. If anything, high rates of adoption by the better off have helped sustain the product, thereby facilitating access by the poor, as the pricing structure does not distinguish between services provided in cosmopolitan Nairobi and remote Turkana, or between remittances sent across the street or across the country.

Similarly, because of the correlation between income and bank access, M-PESA was initially used more by the banked population than the unbanked. Indeed, in 2008 just one-in-five of the unbanked population used M-PESA, but since then while the number of households with bank accounts has remained relatively stationary, the share of this unbanked population who use M-PESA has shot up to 75 percent (see Figure 2). Again, focusing on the divergence between the unbanked and the banked populations (fully 96% of the latter are now M-PESA users) is of limited utility: the fact that so many of the unbanked population have access to a modern electronic financial tool is what’s important.

Figure 2: M-PESA use by banked status

Finally, very recently Safaricom has revised the M-PESA tariff schedule. Until now, the cost to the sender of sending money was a fixed 30 shillings (about 40 cents), plus the cost of withdrawing the money, if the recipient wished. This made small transfers of a few dollars relatively uneconomic, while apparently benefiting those who could send larger amounts. The fee structure has however been revised, with users able to send up to 50 shillings for a charge of just 3 shillings, and from 50 to 100 shillings for 5 (see http://www.safaricom.co.ke/index.php?id=255 for a complete listing). This reform could well expand the benefits accessible by those at the bottom of Kenya’s pyramid even further.

April 9, 2012/by actualize

Mobile Money, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Payment Innovations Working Group Holds First Session

On Thursday, March 29th, The NetHope Payment Innovations Working Group held its first session. The theme focus of this session was a general overview of branchless banking 101. The working group was lead by Sarah Rotman of the Consultative Group for Assisting the Poor (CGAP). Sarah has worked with CGAP for nearly fours years, and has conducted extensive research on the impact of technology on financial access for the world’s poor. Sarah’s presentation covered the basic factors of branchless banking, and took a closer look at how it is helping more of the world’s poor achieve access to formal financial services without needing a traditional bank branch nearby. The presentation lead to an engaging question and answer session where the working group members asked questions and added commentary. Much of the conversation surrounded how NGOs could become more involved in the mobile money/branchless banking movement. This is a question the working group will continue to explore in the coming months as we discuss technology’s role in the supply of more formal financial services to the 2.5 billion adults that are still unbanked today. The Payment Innovation Working Group will convene every month, and breach themes that will garner a better understanding of electronic payment solutions for our members. We also hope to create relevant tools to help the NGO community more efficiently implement and deploy electronic payment solutions within their own programs. If you are interested in joining our next session, please contact hamilton.mcnutt@nethope.org

April 5, 2012/by actualize

Mobile Money, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Introduction of Microinsurance into Mobile Banking’s Product Suite

Banner for Telenor's mobile banking product

Photo Credit: CGAP

As written in this blog before, there has been continued innovation in the mobile banking sector in developing countries this year. But, as surmised by CGAP, there is a greater need to find a balance of products that meet the specific needs of those who traditionally have not had access to formal financial services. While mobile payments, transfers, credit and savings have all expanded using the branchless banking model, there has been a lack of products that provide insurance via mobile phones. That is not to say that microinsurance has not been available in the past. But its availability came from the social sector side, instead of the private side. But there has been a shift as the business case becomes more valuable to both insurers and mobile network providers alike.

Just over a year ago, Swiss Re, re-insurance company, stated that the market size for microinsurance for those making under $4 a day in developing countries totals $40 billion. For businesses, that is a tough opportunity to miss. But simply because the market is there does not make it a profitable opportunity. Many of the targeted customers live in rural regions and have never purchased insurance. With a lack of access and knowledge, the case for profitability would need to include a large upfront investment. But technology and innovation can help to fill in those access and knowledge gaps. According to a recent report by Accenture entitled “Succeeding at microinsurance through differentiation, innovation and partnership,” technology offers real-time connectivity, flexibility and scalability which will help insurance companies to reach new customers in emerging markets. With an estimation of 2.3 billion people who are low-income and need to protect their income and assets, Accenture argues that insurance companies need to view these potential customers as “tomorrow’s premium prospects.” A clear example of this is the millions of individuals who have rose out of poverty through the economic prosperity in China and India over the last decade. By providing products that fit the needs of low-income customers, companies can build brand loyalty and reputation in these regions and reap the benefits as their customers improve their economic state.

As stated in the report, the need to leverage technology in order to reach the customers will be key to creating the short and long term business cases. By permitting customers to purchase and/or manage their accounts via mobile phone, this allows for the business structure to be profitable in the short-term. At least that would have to be the rational thinking as MNO (mobile network operators) are partnering with banks and insurance providers to offer a suite of financial service products (including microinsurance) to their customers.

Two Recent Examples

As a part of a larger suite of products, Airtel Ghana has partnered with uniBank Ghana Limited and Star Microinsurance to provide insurance free-of-charge to Airtel’s subscribers using their mobile money product. As long as the customer maintains an average minimum balance of GHC 5 (roughly $2.84) at the end of every month, they, along with their direct family, will be covered by insurance. Airtel Ghana sees the partnership and new products leading to an improved return on assets, an increase in the customer base and the creation of a one-stop shop for uniBank clients. But one of the challenges will customers registration as an individual must have a valid photo ID and complete an application along with having an Airtel SIM card.

In Pakistan, the MNO Telenor also will be releasing a free microinsurance product through Easypaisa, a branchless banking services company. Easypaisa was created in 2009 by Telenor Pakistan and their Tameer Micro Finance Bank. The free life insurance will be provided through Easypaisa and in partnership with Adamjee Life Insurance Company Limited (also located in Pakistan).

As you can see, mobile technology and the focus of creating value-added service by MNOs has increased the access to microinsurance in developing nations. Even in Kenya, insurance associations are pushing their members to utilize mobile phones in order to reach clients in new and untapped markets. In the push to increase access to financial services, the business cases for microinsurance are being shaped around mobile technology. And amazingly enough the insurance is being provided for free.

April 3, 2012/by actualize

Agriculture, Mobile, Mobile Money, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Western Union and MTN sign mobile money partnership

Western Union and the MTN Group today announced the launch of a mobile money transfer service in Uganda enabling MTN customers to send and receive money via their mobile phones.

MTN and Western Union teaming to promote mobile money in Uganda. (image: file)

This service was announced at a press conference today in Kampala. The Western Union/MTN mobile money transfer service in Uganda will allow users cut down on visits to Western Union branches to pick up cash. Instead, they can “pull” transactions into their MTN Mobile Money accounts.

To access the service customers need an active MTN Mobile Money account.

“Our network of nearly half a million locations, our experience in moving money across borders, and our relationships with the world’s most successful mobile operators such as MTN, ideally position us to introduce many people to cross-border financial services,” Western Union President Diane Scott said.

“We currently have more than 2 million Mobile Money customers, and we continue to grow exponentially. By joining forces with Western Union, our customers can now receive funds directly in their MTN Mobile Money accounts quickly and easily,” MTN Group Chief Commercial Officer Christian de Faria said.

Staff writer

March 28, 2012/by actualize

Mobile Money, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Airtime based credit scoring: Can it drive innovative loan products for mobile money?

hands holding cell phone and looking through paperwork

Image: MMUBlog

A customers’ pattern of airtime top ups is being used to determine the credit-worthiness of a prospective borrower and approve/deny loans. Will this technique facilitate the development of innovative micro-loans via the mobile channel? Is the data truly an adequate predictor of customers’ ability to repay? What’s the upside for the players involved?

Airtime based credit scoring in a nutshell

Most emerging markets have little to no infrastructure that adequately collects customers’ credit history: Credit bureaus either don’t exist, or exist on a limited number of individuals and with very thin financial data. For individuals without credit history, the result is stringent borrowing terms such as high collateral coverage, months of demonstrated savings, and/or individual or group guarantors.

The idea behind airtime based credit scoring is to use an individual’s history of airtime top up as a proxy indicator of what amount they can afford to borrow and their credit-worthiness. The precise calculations and algorithms employed to do this is the “secret sauce” of Experian MicroAnalytics and Cignifi, two companies working in this space.

What does it take for this to work and what is the upside for those involved?

Models for Collaboration & Benefits

MNOsare the owners of the customer data, so for starters, they have to allow analytics firms access to build the predictive models. (It is of course possible that in some countries, airtime top up aggregators have enough customer data for this business, or that an MNO chooses to build their own predictive models, but both of these seem less likely.) The MNOs presumably would only do so if they believed they could gain the following:
- Increased customer loyalty – Depending on the exact terms of the loan, credit is typically a fairly attractive product offering and one with the potential to keep customers loyal.
- Drive mobile money usage –Disbursing loans and collecting weekly loan repayments, can drive increased usage of mobile money platforms, leading to increased revenue.
- Topline revenues – MNO data is typically used for internal analytics, but monetising the data for credit scoring produces topline revenue by leveraging an existing asset.
Financial institutions – The risk of the credit will always need to be underwritten by a financial institution i.e. bank or credit card company. While there is certainly effort and risk involved to getting the model right, they have three things to gain if it works: 1) ability to reach a customer segment not previously accessible 2) improved ability to target the right product at the target customer i.e. loan size appropriate to the clients ability to repay and 3) revenues from loans
Data analytics company / credit agencies – The models take time to develop before they are truly good predictors of credit worthiness, but if these firms get it right, they earn money on the valuable models they have built and hold a key position sitting between MNOs and financial institutions, who otherwise may not want to share data.
Customer – It is the customer and the customer alone who applies for a loan and gives the ok for a company to use their airtime patterns in the approval process. The client benefits from access to “instant decision” low value loans, which can be used to smooth monthly cash flows.

What do you think? Will MNOs use this technique to develop and offer innovative mobile money micro-loans? Will stakeholders work together to offer this service? Is there demand from the unbanked?

Check back next week for guest posts from Experian MicroAnalytics and Cignifi on their work to date in this area.

March 23, 2012/by actualize

Mobile Money, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Nigeria airline introduces e-payments

Aero Airlines. (image: newsdiaryonline.com)

West Africa’s oldest aviation company Aero Contractors has introduced a mobile payment system on the Universal Message Object (U-MO) platform.

U-MO is a mobile money service enabling users to make and receive payments, and conduct other financial transactions on their mobile phones.

This service enables users pay for their Aero flight tickets via their mobile phones.

According to Aero MD Akin George, “This new service is going to revolutionise how people purchase their airline tickets and what they expect from their airline.”

The new payment option aims to increase operational efficiency, save money for the airline and ultimately decongest the airline’s reservation offices.

Segun Adekoye

March 22, 2012/by actualize

Agriculture, Mobile, Mobile Money, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Kenya’s Safaricom upgrading mobile money service

Kenya’s leading telecom provider Safaricom announced on Tuesday that it was upgrading its mobile money platform M-PESA to a newer version, hoping to make doing financial transactions wirelessly a bit easier.

Safaricom set to upgrade their M-PESA platform. (image: biztechafrica.com)

According to the company, the new system “will enable users to make instant payments for corporate services such as insurance.

“The migration, to be done in the next few years, will enable M-Pesa users to instantly pay electricity bills,” the company said.

Other mobile service providers in the country have called on Safaricom to allow them access to the platform, and have repeatedly said they would be willing to pay royalties to the company. Safaricom has thus far refused.

“It will also save customers inconveniences such as disconnections that occur as the current platform reconciles the transactions,” the company continued, adding that the new service will reduce the time it takes to make payments on bills.

“It takes 48 hours for payments made to Kenya Power, for instance, to reflect on the electricity distributor’s systems, while those to the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) take 76 hours,” the company added.

The new service will also provide users the ability to use the mobile money platform to pay for items online instantly, with a balance being reduced with every purchase, instead of having to be forced to wait until payment clears.

Safaricom also added that in order to reduce costs, part of the M-Pesa servers in Germany will be relocated to Kenya in order to improve “the reliability of the mobile money platform and cut down on overheads”.

Joseph Mayton

March 21, 2012/by actualize

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