Msafiri-2017-11

44 / BUSINESS / Mobile money
Alamy
MOBILE MONEY
IN NUMBERS
350 million people in Africa are
unbanked and have no credit cards.
500 million registered mobile
money accounts globally.
66 percent of low- and mediumincome
countries have mobile money.
“These companies are combining
finance with technology to determine who is
credit worthy”
US$22 billion
The amount processed by the mobile
money industry in December 2016.
277 million mobile money
wallets in Sub-Saharan Africa.
That’s more than all bank accounts
in the region.
In the absence of a conventional
credit-rating system for mobile microlenders
(issuing loans of up to US$9,700),
these companies are using mobile data to
determine who is credit worthy. So who
you talk to on the phone, how long you
talk, and what you buy using mobile
money could very well determine your
credit score, and whether or not you’ll get
a loan.
The resultant effect is the growth of
micro lending through mobile phones.
Products such as CBA Bank’s M-Shwari
and Kenya Commercial Bank’s (KCB)
M-Pesa are disbursing more loans than
traditional credit outlets. KCB’s M-Pesa
product, for instance, disbursed US$180
million in the first year after launch,
while Tanzania’s M-Pawa issued US$17.3
million in the first two years after launch.
Other micro-lending platforms, like
Tala and Branch, have emerged as the
mobile money platform’s underlying
infrastructure, enabling millions to get
instant credit.
NEW FRONTIERS
Mukata says that another area ripe
for disruptive innovation is e-commerce
payments. M-Pesa’s relatively new API
(Application Programming Interface), for
example, will enable innovators to build
more robust payment solutions at a much
faster rate.
Interoperable cross-border mobile money
is also emerging as a frontier that needs
urgent solutions as trade between Africa’s
regional economic blocs rises. It’s here
that mobile telcos, such as MTN Group
– with operations in 18 countries in Africa
– and Airtel – present in 15 countries –
have an opportunity to grow inter-country
mobile payments, further accelerating
cross-border trade.
Following a shareholding
arrangement with Vodacom, Safaricom
has signalled its intention to expand the
M-Pesa service to several other African
countries where Vodacom has a presence.
Other start-ups, like WeCashUp, are
trying to make it easier for people across
Africa to buy and sell goods online, and
pay via a single mobile money gateway.
Mobile money service providers in
Africa have grown from 6 in 2 countries
in 2011, to 39 in 11 countries today. As a
result, more than 40 percent of the adults
in Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Ghana,
Uganda, Gabon and Namibia use mobile
money on an active basis, according to the
global mobile association, GSMA. This
presents an intense competitive field
where innovation is the key differentiator,
but as Collymore sees it, cash remains
the real competition. Ultimately, if the
last 10 years are anything to go by, the
next 10 will be truly transformative thanks
largely to mobile money.
30,000 transactions per
minute via mobile money globally.
27.5 million
Kenya’s mobile money subscribers.
471.1 million mobile money
transactions in Kenya from January
to March 2017, with a value of
US$10.69 billion.
120 percent
Global growth: the volume of flow to
and from bank accounts as a result of
linkages with mobile money between
September 2015 and June 2016.