MTN Ghana is preparing feverishly to launch its annual Mobile Money Month on Wednesday, August 3, 2016 (tomorrow) at Rawlings Park, ‘Makola’, a business hub in Accra.
According to the Corporate Services Executive of MTN Ghana, Mrs. Cynthia Lumor, the mobile money month campaign aimed at driving a cashless economy with Mobile Money.
The month-long campaign is also expected to deepen awareness of the benefits of the MTN Mobile Money service, she added in a pre-launch press release issued to journalists in Accra, today.
This year’s Mobile Money Month celebration is under the theme: ‘Let’s go cashless with MTN Mobile Money, supported by an enabling regulatory environment’ and will be marked by a series of activities across MTN Ghana’s three Business districts of Accra, Kumasi and Takoradi.
Some of the activities include: a stakeholder conference to discuss the various issues relevant to the theme, an inter-tertiary debate with National Union of Ghana (NUGS), consumer promotions, market activations and merchant fora as well as fraud awareness training for merchants, according to the press release.
At similar event last year, the leading Mobile Network Operator in Ghana had reported that 18.5 million volumes of transactions were recorded through its MTN Mobile Money service in a month as against more than five million in 2014.
Out of that figure (18.5 million), over 4.8 million were registered on the service in 2015, while over two million were registered on the service, 2014.
These figures, the website learnt, are higher than the monthly transactions of some of the commercial banks operating in the country.
Some industry watchers say that the growth of mobile money services threatens microfinance firms and the banks as well.
However, the General Manager, Mobile Financial Services at MTN Ghana, Eli Hini argued: “The growth of Mobile Money rather complements the business of microfinance/banks because it provides tools/solutions to enhance their offerings/services”.
“Customers are now able to receive their loan disbursements into their Mobile Money wallets wherever they are and are able to make loan repayments without visiting the branch”, he added.
In an effort to bring mobile money services to the doorsteps of subscribers, MTN Ghana had partnered a number of local banks including Access Bank, Agricultural Development Bank (ADB), Cal Bank, Ecobank, Fidelity, GT Bank, Universal Merchant Bank, Stanbic, UBA and Zenith.
MTN Ghana, which is the largest telecom network, is available across Ghana in all the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) and key villages and towns in the country, so as the mobile money or mobile banking platform. It is available in all the over 77 MTN service centres and 19,500 mobile money merchants doted across the country.
Also, the service enables MTN Mobile Money customers with the help of partners like Lyca, WorldRemit and Xpress Money and several others to receive money from abroad instantly on their phones. Ghanaians in UK, Australia, Switzerland, Qatar, etc are able to send money to their relatives and friends via the service.
MTN Mobile Money users can pay their DSTV and ECG bills and school fees, purchase airline tickets, as well as pay for goods purchased at Melcom Plus, Max Mart and other online shops.
For the past five years, MTN Ghana has dedicated the month of August to Mobile Money to create awareness about the service and highlight the importance of creating a cashless economy.
African Eye Report
