Accra, Ghana, January 3, 2020//-The story of Ghana’s burgeoning Mobile Money (MoMo) by extension digital financial services (DFS) industry can never be told without mentioning the immense contribution of Eli Hini.
Eli is the General Manager of MobileMoney Limited, the MTN Ghana subsidiary responsible for mobile financial services. In that capacity, he is responsible for driving strategy, business development, innovation and relevant operations of MTN’s Mobile Money business.
As at the end of the first half of 2019, the industry boasts of over 31.5 million registered mobile money accounts, out of which about 13 million are active users, according to Bank of Ghana and MobileMoney Limited has majority market share: That is testimony of the solid leadership of Eli Hini.
Eli is accredited as one of the industry pioneers who sacrificed his energy and skill to ensure that mobile money is accepted and utilized across the length and breadth of the country.
He was recently adjudged as the MoMo Trailblazer by MTN Ghana at the 10th anniversary of MoMo held in Accra.
Eli has also received several awards in his career, including a Special Award for His Immense Contribution to Promoting Financial Inclusion in Ghana at the 8th edition of Ghana Information Technology and Telecom Awards (GITTA) 2018.
He has been described by his colleagues and industry experts as: “The Godfather of Mobile Money Evolution in Ghana” due to his pioneering roles he played in the growth of the country’s mobile money industry.
How it all started
Mr Hini was a key member of the team when Scancom Plc, operators of MTN Ghana, began the mobile money service in Ghana in 2009.
MobileMoney Limited which was the first to launch mobile money operations on July 21st 2009 has just finished celebrating its 10th anniversary in the West African country.
Launched with two main services namely Money Transfer (P2P) and Airtime Purchase, the platform now has six major categories of financial transactions under which varying services are provided.
The services are pensions, insurance, savings, micro loans, shopping, payments, international remittances and banking/investment options.
Indeed, almost all the products and services of financial technology (fintechs) platforms in the country are powered by MoMo payment systems.
Achievements
Mr Hini said: “From less than 100,000 subscribers after six months of launch, our registered subscriber numbers have reached the 14 million milestone over this 10-year period. We started with nine partner banks and now we have 18 partner banks, with the 19th on the way”.
With the increase in numbers came the change in technology partners. From Fundamo we “ported” to Ericsson seamlessly in Oct 2015 and got our ISO accreditation in the first quarter of 2016, the first in the industry”.
A decade down the line, according to Mr Hini, MoMo has become the foremost financial Services platform in the country. “We are proud of this achievement”, he stated.
We did not only build local partnerships, we also forged partnerships with International giants like Google, Western Union, World Remit and International agencies such as World Food Programme, UNHCR, GSMA, among others, he noted.
“As at the end of November last year, we had over 140,000 active Mobile Money agents. We also have over 5000 mobile agents/canvassers. Some of these agents and canvassers, prior to the introduction of MoMo had no meaningful employments”.
MTN MoMo has partnered several organizations to rollout key social empowerment projects over the decade including helping digitize the Agriculture Value Chain through mAgric, community savings & loans schemes and scaling up female participation within the MoMo merchant space.
Growth in MoMo
The use of mobile money has grown exponentially within 10 years, making Ghana one of Africa’s leaders in mobile money innovation, adoption, and usage.
According to figures from the Bank of Ghana (BoG), mobile money accounts now surpass bank accounts and greater financial inclusion has benefited large swathes of the population that remain unbanked including the poor, the young, and women.
While access to traditional banking services remains almost a mirage for most Ghanaians, the universal availability of mobile phones has allowed millions to access mobile money services in the country.
Most Ghanaian users now rely on mobile money to send and receive money domestically. Recently, they are taking advantage of new services to also send and receive money internationally.
Deepening Financial Inclusion
The facilitation of money transfers and payment of utilities between individuals and across sectors has become enormous. We have enabled investment in Treasury Bills possible with our TBILL4ALL product in partnership with Ecobank, Mr Hini, noted.
Also worth mentioning are our Yello Save in partnership with Fidelity and My Own Pension in partnership with United Pensions Trust.
According to the World Bank Global Financial Inclusion Index released in April 2018, Ghana’s financial inclusion has increased from 41 percent in 2014 to 58 percent in 2017 mainly on account of adoption of digital channels such as mobile money for service delivery.
The revolution of mobile money transactions in the Ghanaian economy has instigated a paradigm shift to a new kind of retail banking system where large segments of the unbanked populace are being absorbed into the financial services sector.
The success of mobile money transactions in advancing financial inclusion cannot be overemphasized, but there is still scope for further expansion and players and the regulator (BoG) need to focus on areas such as pricing of digital financial services to promote competitive practices to foster increased usage.
Growth in Fintech
Besides, through his dynamic and visionary leadership, MTN Mobile Money has led to the domestication of financial services and growth of the country’s fintech sector.
By Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh, African Eye Report
