Mobile Money Africa March Edition

Volume 1 | Issue IV

March 2010

Haiti: Mobile to the rescue.

AFRICA GoingMobile

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Emmanuel Okoegwale, [email protected]

www.mobilemoneyafrica.com

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Mobile Financial services is shaping the new brave world. Leading financial services providers, Remittance firms,electronic card services providers are all looking at the mobile as the next frontier for competition.

Western Union is accelerating the digital program with the recent certification of Fundamo and Mchek. Visa recently signed up an Industry veteran to lead world wide Mobile Innovation. From all sectors, Mobile commerce is coming into the main stream.

Governments and International Non government organization also acknowledged the contributions from mobile donations to the Haiti efforts.More than 34 Billion USD has been donated via mobile payments,world wide.

February was a busy month in the Mobile Money space across Africa. Events took place in East Africa, Aitec Africa Mobile Money Comesa,Nairobi and BSP Events Mobile Banking West Africa at Lagos Nigeria.

Join us at the MobileMoney fundamentals training in Lagos Nigeria, holding at the VCP Hotel Victoria Island on March 10th, 2010. We look forward to your participation

Thank You

MobileMoneyAfrica is published monthly by GO MOBILE NIG 4b, Adekunle Kuye street, Surulere, Lagos - Nigeria. All materials in this publication are covered by copyright. The inclusion or exclusion of any does not mean that the publisher advocates or rejects its use. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form- electronically, mechanically, photocopying or otherwise in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher. All correspondence is assumed to be intended for publication unless clearly stated otherwise.009 - 234- 1-2212869, 009-234-803-08-18868

Events and MarketingWest [email protected]

Business Development, sales and AdvertsEaster [email protected]

Creative Consultant

Amaka Agbakoba Ofume, Former Senior

World Bank Consultant.

Meneske Gencer, Director - Mpayconnect, Inc.

Aiaze Mitha, Director - Amarante Consulting LLc.

Advisory Board

Avijit Nanda, President - Timesofmoney India

Graham Orodje, CEO - TaurusMobile

Jeppe Ramlau - Hansen, - VP - Clickatell

North AmericaBurke Bruce727-612-5775 [email protected]

EuropeGraham [email protected] 429480UK

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Africa / Rest of the worldEmmanuel Okoegwale+234 803-081-8868

Chike OrjiSOFTPEN 08062186706

Web ConsultantMark OppenneerEthnos projectUSA

Editorial Page

Citizens of the world, woke up on the 12th of January to find the country of Haiti under the ruins, due to the effects

of a devastating earthquake. Thousands of people were reported killed and many still unaccounted for and millions are without food, water, medicines and shelter.Matching action with words, President Obama made pledges and millions of dollars donations flowed in from all around the world. From the Big corporate donors to the very ubiquitous Mobile Phones, they all proved that the world is now a connected place ,where commerce can take place, anytime and anywhere. As at the last count, donations from Mobile phones alone already exceeded 24million USD with more than 2.5million people texting $10 for the Haiti relief efforts which is added to the monthly bill. Small donations are making big impacts in Haiti.I spoke with many Africans, Living in Africa if they made any donations towards the Relief efforts of our Brothers and Sisters in Haiti, the answer was negative with only a few positives from Kenya and South Africa. Safaricom, MPESA's parent company had set up a donation account for Kenyans to make donations via Mobile Money platform, MPESA and Glo in Nigeria later did same in Nigeria.The Main reason for not contributing to the donation is that they have ability to donate between 1 10 USD (willingness) but they do not have the means ( access ) to make such small value transaction, cheaply without having to travel to a Bank, stay on queue, leave their Jobs for hours, travel to next town to visit the Bank but they all have a Mobile Phone, actually conducted this short interview via mobile phone teleconference and SMS, talking to 35 people in seven countries.When Final donation statistics are taken, Africa will most likely record least contributions to a country that is more connected to them, racially and Historically than any other Nation on the

face of earth. This is our score card, not because we lack capacity for kindness and Love but we lack the ability to share Love using simple technologies like mobile payment.If you are living in countries where these services work, kindly make your donations to the Haiti Relief efforts by sending your donations to the following organizations Via your Mobile Phone:

Kenya Red Cross Society via MPESA Business Number 508000

Glo Nigeria Text Haiti short code 33090 ACLJ Text ACLJ to 90999 to give $10

Compassion International Text DISASTER to 90999 to give $10

Family Health International Text FHI to 90999 to give $5

FAMU Text RELIEF to 50555 to give $5 Florida Hospital Text MISSION to 90999 to

give $5 Friends of the World Food Program Text

FRIENDS to 90999 to give $5 Leon H. Sullivan Foundation Text

SUMMIT to 90999 to give $% Rotary Foundation Text ROTARY to 90999

to give $5 United Nations Foundation Text CERF to

90999 to give $5 United Way Text HAITI to 864833 to give

$5

You may also visit http://haiti.ushahidi.com, powered by Clickatell to Donate, Volunteer, Submit a Report, Track Information, Register Missing Persons, and Receive SMS alerts

Haiti Tragedy

Emmanuel OkoegwaleMobileMoney

&

March 2010 | 7www.mobilemoneyafrica.com

UK-based fintech vendor Intelligent Environments is set to take on Monitise after raising £0.75 million through a share placing to fund development of a new mobile banking platform.IE says its new offering will provide a secure, branded platform, enabling consumer banking customers to see their banking details across all of their accounts from current, saving to credit card as well as a complete summary of account activity which will include money in, money out , pending transactions, available balances as well as overdraft limits. The vendor is currently recruiting a development team, with a completed mobile banking solution scheduled for launch in April. The lead platform will be the Apple iPhone, followed quickly by support for the Android, Blackberry and Windows mobile platforms.Mobile revenues will be generated from installation fees as well as from a transaction based fee calculated by the number of registered users. The new service will pitch IE head-to-head with Monitise, which has a large installed base of customers in the UK and US. In December, Monitise reported two million transactions per month from the 1.3 million registered users of the platform. Despite this, the vendor continues to lose money. In its interim statement for the half-year earlier this week, Monitise reported widening losses of £6.9 million, up from £6 million in the same period a year ago.

INTELLIGENT ENVIRONMENTS SET TO CHALLENGE MONITISE IN UK M-BANKING

Around World

in

30 Days

the

Utiba Pte. Ltd., a leading global supplier of mobile financial transaction platforms for mobile operators and financial institutions, announced that the Company has entered into a joint-venture with Alternet Systems, Inc., a leader in hosted application services in the Americas. The joint-venture, Utiba Americas, will deploy a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform in the Americas and the Caribbean region focused on mCommerce and mobile financial services. In the joint-venture, Utiba contributes its proprietary software, operational and commercial expertise, and experience in managing successful and speedy implementations of mobile financial and payment services while Alternet provides local management, technical and marketing resources, regional presence in over 16 countries, and extensive experience providing hosted applications.

UTIBA LAUNCHES UTIBA AMERICAS, EXPANDING ITS PRESENCE INTO THE AMERICAS AND THE CARIBBEAN


MOBILE MONEY FACES PLASTIC BARRIERS IN EUROPE

Celltrust unveils secureSMS mobile banking and payment pilot in Africa to secure branchless banking for the under and un-banked

The ubiquity of the credit card and the impact of the recession mean the move to use a mobile phone to make payments and conduct banking is likely to be a slow and tortuous affair in Europe. The use of the cellphone to transfer money in emerging markets in Africa, India and Latin America has taken off strongly in recent years as operators provide services to millions who otherwise would have little access to a bank. But in Europe mobile payments have barely moved beyond the trial stage and many industry executives believe consumers will only make mobile payments in certain niche situations in the short term, potentially denying operators a way to increase customer loyalty and gain additional revenues. "(Mobile money) is going to be a longer slog that takes more brain power and maybe more commitment than a lot of the operators are used to putting into value-added services," Mark Pickens, an analyst at the microfinance centre CGAP based at the World Bank, told Reuters. "You can't do it on the cheap, it's not a ringtone." Juniper Research estimates that more than 500 million people around the world will use mobile money transfer services by 2014, principally in developing countries, but forecasters are reluctant to predict figures for Europe due to the slow uptake. The telecom trade body GSMA predicts that operators could make $5 billion from financial services by "banking" 364 million unbanked people by 2012.

CellTrust Corporation , the leading supplier of secure mobile messaging and applications, has announced the launch of its SecureSMS Mobile Banking and Payment Pilot for the African region. CellTrust recently partnered with Maxim-Pro Ltd. , based in Abuja, Nigeria, to secure and mobile enable their successful banking platform with the view to extending secure mobile banking and payment services to

under and un-banked populations.Within the first few months of operation, uptake is expected to be high for the new Secure SMS/Text Mobile Banking program launched via CellTrust's Global SecureSMS Gateway. The pilot will allow end-users to make mobile cash transfers, payments and securely access other microfinance banking products.

Kuwait-based telecom firm Zain said it has bagged an award from the World Mobile Congress in Barcelona for its contribution in mobile banking services.

Zain is currently in exclusive talks with Bharti Airtel till March 25 for selling its African assets. It has won the inaugural GSMA's 2010 "mobile money for the unbanked service" award for its mobile commerce service. This is a new category of award that recognizes innovative mobile banking around the world that pioneers the roll-out of low-cost financial services to millions of people, in countries where traditional financial services are either not within easy reach or unavailable, Zain said in a statement.

"Not only are we pushing the boundaries of where the mobile phone can take us, we are showing that we can improve lives and make sustainable economic contributions in the countries where we operate," Zain Africa CEO Chris Gabriel said.

Nokia users in India may now find money transferring in India to be seemingly easier than ever. Nokia has partnered with

Yes Bank to come up with a live commercial pilot scheme of Nokia Money in India. A trial version of the scheme would mark its debut in Pune, one of metropolitan places in India. This scheme would be named as the

ZAIN GETS GSMA AWARD FOR MOBILE BANKING SERVICE

NOKIA COLLABORATES WITH YES BANK TO BRING NOKIA MONEY PILOT TO INDIA


December 2009 | 11www.mobilemoneyafrica.com

Mobile Money Services by Yes Bank. A video explaining about the service is provided in Nokia Conversations. “The Nokia Money initiative based on Obopay's platform is initially targeted at growth markets and designed to work in partnership with multiple network operators and banks, involving distributors and merchants in a dynamic open ecosystem to seamlessly provide the new services. Yes Bank is our first partner in India to bring this service to market,” commented, Teppo Paavola, VP and General Manager of Mobile Financial Services at Nokia. The pilot scheme can enable users to transfer money to another person just by means of the individual's mobile phone number. Users can also pay their utility bills and top-up SIM cards. In future, a facility to pay for goods and services may also be available.

The Western Union, Announced that it has certified two

participants in its Mobile Vendor Program: India-based mChek and South Africa-based Fundamo. In addition, Western Union announced that it has selected Comviva, a leading provider of mobile value-added solutions in emerging markets in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, to participate in the program.

MCHEK, FUNDAMO NOW CERTIFIED IN WESTERN UNION MOBILE VENDOR PROGRAM COMVIVA SELECTED TO PARTICIPATE

VODAFONE LAUNCHES TWO LOW COST MOBILE PHONES

Vodafone has launched two affordable mobiles, Vodafone 150 and Vodafone 250 which are believed to be among the cheapest

mobile handsets in the world. The handsets mainly aim customers in the developing world. The phones will be launched first in India and six other African countries - the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Mozambique, Qatar, South Africa and

Globacom Launches Appeal For Haiti

Quake Victims

Globacom, Nigeria's leading national telecoms

operator, has launched an appeal to raise funds to

support the rehabilitation of the unfortunate

victims of the recent devastating earthquake in

Haiti.

Described as one of the most devastating natural

disasters in recent human history and more

massive in repercussion than the Asian tsunami,

the Haitian earthquake disaster has seen almost

total destruction of the Haitian capital, Port-au-

Prince and the loss of an estimated 200,000 lives.

Announcing the commencement of the

fundraising programme in Lagos, Globacom's

Group COO, Mr. Mohamed Jameel said the

appeal was being made in order to ensure that

Nigerians have an opportunity to contribute their

own quota to the salvage and rehabilitation effort

being launched globally for the people of Haiti.

“This is a human disaster of almost unimaginable

Appeal For

Haiti Quake VictimsGlobacom Launches

FOCUS


proportions and most Nigerians who are willing

to help do not

know how to

c o n t r i b u t e

t o w a r d s t h e

relief effort. To

this end, we have

d e c i d e d t o

l a u n c h t h i s

appeal by the

creation of a

s h o r t c o d e

through which

Nigerians can

make donations to help the Haitian people”, he

said.

He said the company is calling on all Nigerians,

especially its subscribers to make contributions

of a minimum of N50 by sending the word HAITI

to the short code 33090 which has

been specially created for the

purpose. Subscribers, however,

are free to donate as many times

as they wish to the relief effort by

sending multiple SMS at the cost

of N50 per SMS.

Jameel said that all donations

made by Nigerians through the

short code will be presented on a

monthly basis on behalf of the Nigerian people to

the Nigerian Red Cross which is already on

ground in Haiti via the International Committee

of the Red Cross (ICRC).

He also gave the assurance that none of the

proceeds will be withheld as the project is being

undertaken on compassionate grounds and in line

with Glo's corporate responsibility obligations.

To indicate its seriousness and commitment,

Jameel said Globacom has given support to an

online campaign which will be run through the

social networks such as Facebook, MySpace and

Twitter; while Classic 97.3 FM has committed to

help raise awareness by giving free hypes and

airtime.

“We urge all Nigerians to help build awareness

for this campaign through their social networks

while other radio and television networks in the

country are also welcome to donate free airtime

to create awareness for this effort”, he said.

Affirming its support for the project, The

Nigerian Red Cross in a letter signed by its Head

of Administration, Barrister (Mrs) Joy Umealor

thanked Globacom for coming up with the unique

initiative.

“We want to express our appreciation to your

company for coming up with this initiative as the

proceeds will be presented to the Red Cross at a

media event towards assisting the unfortunate

victims of the disaster.

T h a n k y o u f o r

partnering with us to

provide humanitarian

assistance to the victims

of this natural disaster”,

she stated.

Jameel concluded by

calling on all Nigerians

t o s u p p o r t t h e

fundraising appeal by giving as much as they can

afford through the simple process of using their

phones to make donations to aid the people of

Haiti who tragically, have lost so much including

homes and loved ones.


MMA: Share with Africans the strong compelling reason for eartholeum's foray into technology and mobile payment systems?

Vision:

Mission:

The banking infrastructure in Africa is low compared to the developed countries of the world, in terms of bank branches, point of sales terminals and ATM points. However, there is a high level of mobile telephony penetration and this provides a veritable opportunity to gaining unlimited access to financial services that were not freely available.The need to enhance security through cashlessness, from the norm in Nigeria and other African societies where almost all financial transactions are cash based, brings to fore the imperative of Mobile Money that reduces such risks inherent in a cash based society. Mobile Money democratizes access to financial services.Technology is all about finding solutions to life, enhancing convenience; For example the invention of the wheel brought about a great revolution in transportation.Technology is about impacting people's life and this is highlighted in our vision and mission at Eartholeum Networks

To lead in the provision of electronic solutions and transaction channels for people in Africa.

We provide secure, reliable & easy-to-use electronic transaction solutions and channels to support your lifestyleBecause of our exposure to worldwide advancement in terms of security, authentication and convenience, vis-à-vis our experience, we feel strongly compelled to create the same ease, which we are doing leveraging on various technologies and partnerships worldwide to create an environment that is world class, with a view to even surpassing global standards.This we can confidently claim and has been substantiated by our technical partners that the requirements we have tasked them to meet is an operation far beyond their present services

which they are offering in Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Our business model identifies that consumers in Nigeria and Africa are now more sophisticated and require world class standard services as obtainable worldwide; we have therefore, adopted a business friendly model which recognizes business interdependency, this makes us willing and ready to work with the different players in the mobile money space.Our platform is designed with interfaces that can support the backend of the various players in the mix, banks or telcos. Our product is interoperable and helps us to focus on those who have not experienced the formal financial system, giving them access to the various financial services. So be it bank or telco, we have put together an ecosystem that is based on two indices:A. Our motivation is to impact people's lives, which adds value to them and our product is the vehicle. There is no argument where there is obvious value which we bring to the table at all times.

B. We view competition as collaborators and or business model eases our market entry as we bring value and are already working with a number of participants in the mix: Financial institutions, Money transfer service providers, switch companies, government agencies etc.

We have put together a very robust Agent network that will be taking banking to your

MMA: From your point of view, as an independent provider in the Mobile Money space, how can a non telcos and non Bank operator like Eartholeum engage the Nigerian market?

Value:

Collaboration:

MMA: How do you plan to bring Formal financial services to millions of Nigeria?

COUNTRY FOCUSCOUNTRY FOCUS


doorsteps. It gives individuals a touch point where financial services can be anchored within their neighborhood.The byline of our product “life is mobile” carries the essence of our service delivery. We want millions of Nigerians to harness an ecosystem to access what hitherto was not available to them.

According to the CBN Mobile Money framework, 3 models were defined:A. Bank Focused: Where a bank promotes her localized product.B. Bank Led: Where a bank or group of banks in conjunction with a service provider promotes a mobile payment product.C. Non Bank Led: Where a non financial institution partners with others (bank or telco) to promote a mobile payment.We at Eartholeum can operate in any of these models because we have an ecosystem that is interoperable and accommodate multi-players. We are not limited in any way and can function well in any of the CBN framework models.However, our overall objective is to deliver an ecosystem that can accommodate millions of never served and under served Nigerians and Africans, because we believe in collaboration.

Nigerians should expect a reliable, secure and easy to use service from Eartholeum Networks Limited.Our platform will deliver the following:? Person to person transfer on their mobile phones? Utility payments from the confines and convenience of their homes using their mobile phones? Access financial services within their neighborhood etc.We are delivering a complete bouquet of effective, reliable and cost friendly product which resonate the word convenience.

MMA: Educate us more on the regulatory landscape as it affects Eartholeum?

MMA: What services should 140 million Nigerian be expecting in the next few months from the stables of Eartholeum?

MMA : Any Regional or West African plans?

Our vision and mission statements make it clear that, we have a pan African vision; because we recognize that the challenges across Africa are similar. Looking through Sub-Sahara Africa we have the same ideologies as it affects financial transaction, where cash plays a very prominent role.In addition, there is no well rounded developed financial service delivery infrastructures, which has given rise to the high un-banked population within the continent. Once the Nigerian market is well conquered we shall face the African frontier and according to our philosophy we are very open to exploring partnerships with other organizations within other countries in Africa and beyond.

Contacts: Office Address: 14b, Ahmed Onibudo StreetVictoria Island, Lagos.Website: www.eartholeum.com

Email: [email protected]@[email protected]

Tel: +234-1-4627961, 4627963Fax: 234-1-4611142

Bola AdeyinkaCEO

Afam Peter

Chief Visionary officer


African Centre for Mobile Financial Inclusion

Logo Contest coming soon

with the sponsorship of RedcloudMoney

$2,000 USDto be won.

Email [email protected] to know more.

www.redcloudmoney.com

- In formation

INTERVIEW

T

The poison pill

The Alliances

he Nigerian Financial Regulator, Central Bank of Nigeria had since last year released the regulatory framework to

guide the operations of potential mobile money operators in Nigeria. The policy guidelines though with some flaws but like all regulatory positions, prevailing situations always shape and influence review on a consistent Basis or on a need arise Basis.

CBN has clearly stated that the Banks are favored ahead of MNO's in the country’s Mobile Money space. MNO's will have to work with a licensed financial institution, therefore commercial Banks, micro finance and discount houses. MNO's in Nigeria are not known, not to be in the drivers seat for their own deployments but the regulators stand on this may not be final but it holds for now. Though the Banks do not understand 'low value' and 'High volume' Business platform required to run MMT platforms but capacity can be sourced elsewhere and quickly.

Globacom, one of Nigeria's most innovative MNO and second National carrier with operations in a couple of West African countries may join forces with ETBank which has a close ownership structure with Globacom.This relationship may be excellent for internal operations but may not deliver expected benefits for end users if the technology to be used is a combo of mobile, card and ATM. ETBank has a limited ATM and Branch Network in Nigeria.MTN, Africa's largest MNO with over 100

MobileMoney:

ARTICLE

Shape of things to come in Nigeria - Emannuel Okoegwale


million subscribers in Africa and Middle East,is said to be working with GTBank. The Bank has proven to be a credible and trusted partner for Mobile Money providers in West Africa with impressive records with Txtpay in Ghana and Splash Mobile Money in Sierra Leone. The experiences in both market may count in local operations in Nigeria.Zain is actively zapping through Africa with recent addition of sierra Leone, Malawi and Niger on the Zain zap Map. Zap has working relationship with CITI Bank in some parts of Africa but it may face significant challenges in Nigeria where the Bank is relatively unknown in retail Banking with limited Branch network and non existent ATM network. May face hindrance where ATM technology is required as cash out options.

West Africa has strong cultural and economic ties with millions of migrant labor crossing into countries all across the region, all year round.Benin Republic alone accounts for more than 65% of Nigerian used car imports and also a well developed transportation hub between Lagos Accra in Ghana.Despite the huge potentials in the regional economy, most of the Businesses are still informal and like wise the remittances. Opportunities abound for MMT regional Hub to take advantage and explore the opportunities.

UBA Bank, a leading financial services provider in Nigeria with very ambitious African growth and a formidable regional Hub operations in West Africa is a strong contender in the MMT space with more than 7 million customers in Nigeria alone, close to 2,000 ATM across Nigeria, no other financial institution in West Africa is better positioned to champion the Bank led MMT provider in West Africa.First Bank, Nigeria's largest Bank by capitalization and a very strong retail sector, the Bank's solid knowledge of mass market and spread of Branch network positions the Bank as a formidable competition in the MMT space.Not to be left behind is FinBank's Flashmecash, Nigeria's first Mobile Money service, very secure and reliable but hampered by the market strategy which tied down the service in the Banking hall instead of developing agent

Regional corridor

Game Changers

network to promote it and developing transaction channels on the MMT platform. If the Bank can overcome these two key challenges, Flashmecash may end up Occupying a space on the big league table of MMT providers in Nigeria.

MoneyBoxAfrica which is the only licensed MobileMoney provider in Nigeria till date and utilizes the Paybox solutions will have to square up against Celltrust, Easipay and the Mobile money financial switch provider, Eartholuem Networks . The individual efforts of all these providers may further fragment the Market but if they come together to Build a shared Agent Network consortium, they will be able to withstand or even surpass the commercial Banks in customers sign up and profitability. utilizes the Paybox solutions will have to square up against Celltrust, Easipay and the Mobile money financial switch provider, Eartholuem Networks . The individual efforts of all these providers may further fragment the Market but if they come together to Build a shared Agent Network consortium, they will be able to withstand or even surpass the commercial Banks in customers sign up and profitability.

Independent Providers


2009

JBB Research Report: The State of the Kenyan Mobile Entertainment Market: ? ? ? ?Ringtones, Graphics, and Mobile games.

Julien BlinJBB [email protected]: +1 (424) 298 7012October 2009

Price: $2000

Going Beyond

I was asked by Mr Emmanuel Okoegwale to write something for his

magazine “mobilemoneyafrica” to which I am honored. To begin, I am from a Malaysia. And way back in 1999, I was fed up with local banks (and their correspondents) charging me transaction fees to pay someone overseas. I wanted something simple and on demand where I can pay anyone directly without any charges just like paying cash. Around that time, I was working on a program that uses pre-paid cards for payment over the Internet by email addresses. This was before paypal.com. It was a simple idea but I quickly saw the problem of offering an unbranded pre-paid card facing competitors like Amex/Visa/Mastercards. I needed something that is universal, simple and accessible (at anytime/anywhere) by anyone but without the costs. This lead me to realize the potential of telcos and the concept of inter-mobile payment solutions which is now embodied in my US Patent 7461010. Getting a patent means protection for ones idea and recognition as the inventor. However, the patenting process was tough, expensive and took me nearly 9 years. My pre-paid card system is still patent pending. While a Universal payment system is attractive, it has to be commercially viable and to maintain. The problem with financial transaction is that at some point the banks do not see any profit from dealing with clients who only want to make payment or receive them. That is why credit card was so popular with the banks as they can charge exorbitant interest. So for pure transactions, they will need to charge costs for handling money. Telcos on the other hand are inter-connected together to provide telecommunication services. This means that the Telcos' costs are sunken the day they put the cables underground or overhead. Therefore, unlike banks, Telcos are better suited to move data (or digital

COUNTRY FOCUSARTICLE


- Chris Kwan

currency) around for the simple reason they are the masters of communication. For example, it is well known that telcos (Vodafone, Maxis) etc provides services for users to make payment to each other (provided they are with the same service provider) or through an exit point such as a merchant or bank. But, this only solves the substitution from banks for telcos but not the costs.

I wanted a system where anyone can pay anyone on any network free. The 'currency' stays in the telcos' systems and the telcos are regulated so that prepaid/deposits are separately accountable. However, putting this in practice is not easy. There are considerable resistance to this; first by the banks and second by the telcos themselves. From the banks, they are beginning to see competitions in the form of a new technology which is beyond their control (just like the music industry). Some banks like ANZ (in Cambodia) started their own mobile banking by using a mobile device to access users' accounts (WING - making money fair). Actually, this is mobile connectivity and not really mobile money. In this way, they still control over their account business while improving access. Fundamentally, this is still a good step forward especially in developing countries and similar examples in Philippines (Smart) etc. It is no surprise that telcos would love this business but they cannot find ways to pay users beyond their system. Some like NTTDocomo has to acquire a banking license and others work under license with a bank. Nevertheless on both counts, these are still not free services. Some traditional telcos do not even bother to venture into this business. Unfortunately for the latter, this will be another repeat of missed opportunities at the VOIP party.

The greatest example of a successful network company is google which by the way does not

provide any infrastructure at all. It provides a link to others and uses advertising technology to match 'key-word' searches. Now the clever bit is where google charges its advertisers through a click on their links. My proposal is in the same way when a payment is made (user to user over a mobile device), the recipient will see an advertisement. One can see that the potential of advertisement is to persuade and to fortify a brand name. Again, if there is a click through then this represent a charge to the advertiser. The recipient could choose to avoid advertisement for a fee or to receive those that are tailored for him in lieu. I am confident different models could be found after much trial and error.

Earlier, I dealt with digital 'currency' within the telco systems which are transferable freely. For a long time, only those with banking connections would be able to send and receive 'money' in or out of the country via gateways control by the same institutions offering credit or debit facilities. The alternative of an Inter mobile payment solution between different telcos, is clearly to embrace non-bank users to receive and transfer around the world. The advantage is not merely economical but also for safety and to divest into different 'currencies' or new opportunities. By being digital, almost all transactions will be made recordable and traceable on demand by authorities. The promise of a cashless world will require co-operations with the various telcos, regulators

and to some extent; banks. In UK, I have seen the baby step towards this world in the form of an intermediary negotiating payments between different telcos ( www.payforituk.com).

I hope, I have given you an insight to the future and I am confident the next e-payment technology will come from Africa, given the greatest need.

While a Universal payment

system is attractive, it has to

be commercially viable and to maintain

March 2010 | 19www.mobilemoneyafrica.com March 2010 | 23www.mobilemoneyafrica.com

2010 Editorial Planner and Rate card.

Reach Africa through effective marketing

October Edition

NovemberEdition

Launched in June 2009, MobileMoneyAfrica is published monthly and it provides insightfulcoverage and commentary for the stakeholders in the emerging industry. Serving the mobilemoney ,technology financial institutions in Africa, Asia and Europe. The online version syndicatesnews from leading media platforms in Africa, supported by a network of 18 independentcorrespondents and 4 regional bureaus in Africa. No one covers Africa like MobileMoneyAfricawhen it comes to reporting Mobile financial news in Africa.

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BANK DETAILS: GO MOBILE NIGERIA COMPANY, UNITED BANK FOR AFRICA PLC, LAGOS – NIGERIA.SwiftCode: UNAFNGLA. Beneficiary Account : 03550131001645

hat is the genesis of millions that are left behind, all across Africa from formal financial inclusion?W

How Can mobile technology help?

In a world where money influences almost everything that we do, themajority of people living in Africa do not have access to basicfinancial services. This means that they are locked into theconstraints of a cash economy. It is extremely difficult for thesepeople to budget and plan their finances effectively, to save in asecure way, to send mony cost-effectively and instantly etc. If we donot solve this, the majority of people living in Africa will remaindisenfranchised. An efficient, electronic money system is essential inorder to defeat poverty on the continent.

Mobile telephony provides the ideal infrastructure to deliver anelectronic money system to millions because of the following reasons.It is almost ubiquitous (at least for areas where we have economicactivity), the capital has already been spent to deploy theinfrastructure, it is intuitive to use and it can deliver extremelysecure solutions.

Specifically, How can Fundamo’s technology help?

Do you see active participation of mobile operators in banking theunbanked in Africa?

Fundamo brings more than ten years of experience with multipledeployments in Africa (as well as many others globally) to helpresolve issues and overcome challenges. Our expertise and technologyhave been tested in complex production situations and our technologyis recognized as the leading platform with which to deploy these kindsof systems. We also have an approach of collaboration where we workwith local companies as well as large multi-

national technologycompanies (like Accenture and Sun) to ensure that we have morecompre

hensive solutions.

Many mobile operators have successfully


- Hannes Vans resburg , CEO - Fundamo

”March 2010 | 26www.mobilemoneyafrica.com

deployed solutions andestablished business units to bring banking services to the unbanked.Many more have plans.

To the contrary, many banks have moved fast. In some instances banksare leading the way in using mobile technology to bank the un- (orunder-) banked. As an example, Standard Bank in South Africa useFundamo technology through a dedicated division (called CommunityBanking) to open bank accounts for people through retail outlets andthis seems to be very popular. In other countries (like Nigeria andZambia) we are also seeing a lot of activity and actions from banks. (both small and large).

MTN contracted Fundamo as a strategic supplier for the group to deployMobileMoney (their financial services brand) in all of the 21countries where MTN operate in an aggressive

roll-out plan. Thisroll-out is on track and is probably one of the more ambitiousroll-out projects on a Group basis in the world. The solution has beendeployed in the majority of countries and is in

The financial institutions are slow on the mobile segment, is thisdeliberate strategy or they are still coming to terms with the mobilechannel.

MTN and Fundamo relationship.

active production in anumber of these. As far as I am aware, few companies (if any) have thecapacity and experience to tackle such an ambitious project and we arethankful that MTN chose us for this project.

Fundamo technology has now been deployed, or is in the process ofbeing deployed in 25 African countries. The technology is operatedunder various brands and with different business models. Sometimes ourclients are mobile operators and sometimes banks, but all of them canbe assured of best of breed technology, high caliber of support andongoing innovation.

Thank you for your time and contribution.

I appreciate.

Roll out status in Africa.

- Hannes Vans resburg , CEO - Fundamo


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