Accra, Ghana//-MobileMoney Limited (MML), a wholly owned subsidiary of Scancom PLC, today launched its 2021 Mobile Money (MoMo) month with a theme: ‘Consolidating Digital Payment for Economic Transformation’ at the MTN House in Accra.
For the past nine years, the company has dedicated the month of August to create awareness and educate customers about the benefits of MoMo.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MobileMoniey Limited, Eli Hini who performed launch said: “We believe that MoMo month has contributed immensely to the significant achievements recorded which includes 17 million registered subscribers, 19 partner banks, more than 200, 000 Agents and over 7.5 billion transactions since its inception in 2009″.
‘As we celebrate MTN Ghana’s 25th anniversary, we also celebrate the growth of this service which has grown to become a fully-fledged digital financial service”.
MTN through its new strategy, Ambition 2025 aims at building the largest and most valuable platform business in Africa. One of the strategic pillars of the Ambition 2025 is FinTech Solutions. “In order to achieve this vision there is the need for us to deepen the gains made so far in driving financial inclusion”, Mr Hini, stressed.
Statistics released by the Bank of Ghana over the years have revealed the enormous contribution Mobile Money is making towards the economic transformation of Ghana.
Mr Hini confidently stated that the gains made so far have been phenomenal and they need to expand their horizon and do more to consolidate their gains.
MML’s Solutions to Deepen Digital Payments
Over the years MML and its executives have been working with other partners to develop solutions that makes digital payments more attractive to customers across the length and breadth of the country.
Moving from the usual transfers, bill payments and loan acquisitions, the company introduced the MoMo Business Platform, a web platform that allows businesses to make bulk payments, pay bills, among others.
The MML’s MoMo open API (application programming interface ) allows other companies to integrate their platform with that of the company to receive payments.
“We also have the Merchant App that allows Merchant to track transactions and manage their accounts and we have also introduced Consumer Apps a self-service platform for customers to manage their accounts. We need to make these digital payment options more attractive, eliminating all forms of challenges and providing a one stop shop for customers to perform all transactions end to end”.
Benefits of Digital Payments
Touching on the theme- ‘Consolidating Digital Payment for Economic Transformation’, Mr Hini believes that if country’s payment platforms are fully utilized the socio economic benefits will be enormous.
In view of that, they are committed to elevating the level of awareness of digital payments and the benefits that can be derived from these innovations.
Today, with the emergence of African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) which is the largest free trade area founded in 2018, with trade commencing as of 1 January 2021, markets have been widened and with the increasing acceptance of e-commerce, digital payments are expected to grow, according to him.
MML’s Solutions to Providing Digital Payments
He asked how do they decentralize digital payments to ensure that they achieve the economic transformation they all desire to see? For them at MML, they are working towards a period where MoMo can and will be accepted for all forms of payments including paying for trotro and taxi fare, payment of tolls, and many more.
“We continue to work with partners who connect to our platforms to receive payments for their goods and services using the Merchant ID option. For those of us who want the fastest route, the QR code method of payment is also available.
To this end we fully support the governments GHQR. Implementation will be in Phases starting with USSD Payment due in the next few months. GhQR Scan will be the next phase of the roll out on the MTN MoMo platform”, Mr Hini emphasised.
MoMo month activities /Promos
“As we always do, we will have an exciting series of activities outlined for the month will help consolidate the gains we have made and provide the many opportunities that are available for the adoption of digital payment systems”.
Further outlining the activities of the MoMo month, the Senior Manager In-charge of Mobile Financial Services (MFS) of MobileMoney Limited, Abdul-Majeed Rufai said on 11th August the much-anticipated Stakeholder Forum would discuss how to collaborate to promote digitize payments in Ghana.
He added in order to create excitement for customers as they use MoMo for their payments, there will be a Customer promo to reward deserving customers with goodies including laptops, mobile phones, flat TV screens, cars, among others.
While other promos such as Akwaaba, agents, merchants, mobile agents, field engagement, fraud attack and MoMo trivia on social media would be held for the public.
They urged all and sundry to pay close attention to the details because they want all customers to win something especially as MTN Ghana celebrates the 25 years’ milestone.
As they launch MoMo month, they also urged all retailers, distributors and service providers to sign up to MoMo platforms to make payments and also receive payments for goods and services.
Fight against Fraud
As they celebrate MoMo month, they encouraged everyone to be vigilant and to report any fraudulent activities through 100 or through SMS 1515. Reporting the fraudsters will enable MML to block their phones and thereby make the practice unattractive. Most importantly, never disclose your MoMo PIN to anyone.
African Eye Report