Accra, Ghana, June 6, 2019//-MTN Ghana is targeting to register 20 million customers on its Mobile Money platform by the end of 2021.
The General Manager of Mobile Financial Services at MTN Ghana, Eli Hini who disclosed this to journalists at the launch of the 10 anniversary of MTN Mobile Money (MoMo) at Madina market in Accra, was confident that the company would achieve the target.
He explained that the strategies including sustained promotion of the service across the length and breadth of the country which they deployed since the launch of the service on July 21st 2009 won’t change.
Mr Hini revealed: “From less than 100,000 after six months of launch, our registered subscriber numbers have reached the 14million milestone over the 10 year period.
We started with nine partner banks and now working closely with 18 partner banks. Our agents are around 124, 000. By the end of quarter one of 2019 we recorded 411million transactions on the MoMo platform, which tells us that people have now become more conversant with using the MoMo to undertake various transactions”.
We are actively promoting financial growth. Between 2016 and 2018 we made GHS 139million cedis Interest Payments to over 10 million customers, he told participants at the launch.
The MTN MoMo Journey So Far
Recounting the journey, Mr Hini said: “The MoMo service begun with MTN’s desire to get the Mobile phone to go beyond the ordinary. We went through discussions and deliberations with technology experts, industry regulators and very critical stakeholders of the business who bought into our vision. We began working on it and started testing the system ahead of the launch. Per our records the very first successful transaction was done by a staff of MTN on 25th Sept, 2008 at 3:51pm”.
Here are a few interesting records: On 13th October 2008, MTN MoMo’s first merchant was set up at MTN Graphic Road Branch. It was followed by its first Bank Branch Merchant which is Ecobank Silver Star Branch on 11th Dec, 2008. Also, the company’s first External merchant was Merchant Aki Micro Trading Ent on 15th July, 2009.
“We officially launched the service on July 21st 2009 with the Governor of the Bank of Ghana at the time Paul Acquah, and with Bruno Akpaka our first General Manager. We hit the ground running with the catchy commercial which caught the attention of most people and the phrase ‘Minsa aka” become associated with the service”.
The beginning was very slow and extremely difficult because what we had introduced was not just a breakthrough in technology – it was also going to break the sociology of how money is used and exchanged. People were not familiar with the process and benefits.
“We had to use different approaches to get users and potential users to first understand the service, be confident about it and begin to use it. What was to become a service for everyday use had to be nurtured gradually because of the difficult beginnings. Once we got over the bump of lack of familiarity, we made a lot of progress and today here we are”, Mr Hini noted.
“A decade down the line, MoMo has become the foremost payment system in the country and we are proud of this achievement. I believe we all deserve commendations for this great achievement.
We launched with the Money Transfer and the purchase of MTN airtime and over the years we have added a host of services on the mobile money platform”.
Currently, there are six major categories of financial transactions on the MoMo platform under which there are various other services. The company is not only forging local partnerships, they receive transactions from international partners and have forged partnerships with Visa, Google, Western Union, and Mastercard.
Tech enablement
From the technology side, Mr Hini said the company started with Fundamo and later switched to the Ericsson Converged Wallet solution in Oct 2015 to upgrade our services and enable greater stability and flexibility.
“We received the ISO accreditation in the first quarter of 2016. We were the first to receive this certification in Ghana’s telecommunications industry. We were re-certified this year”.
Mobile Money Month
One of the key drivers of the growth of MoMo is the institution of Mobile Money month in August with the “cashless” society agenda. This certainly helped in deepening the knowledge and usage of the service.
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.
Our customers are also able to save with our Yello Save product (in partnership with Fidelity Bank) and they are able to borrow to meet their short term needs using the Qwikloan service run by a partner agency. Further to these, we have also enabled people to make savings towards their pension through ‘My Own Pension’ service which we launched in partnership with United Pensions Trustees. Beyond these services are the numerous payment platforms created for our merchants from various organizations who receive payments for their goods and services.
The Mobile Money Payments Interoperability System, which makes mobile money accounts interoperable with bank accounts, has further deepened the impact of Mobile Money in Ghana.
Today, wherever you are in this country, so far as you have a mobile phone, you can send and receive money.
Employment
Beyond financial inclusion, the introduction of Mobile Money into the Ghanaian payment system has created employment for thousands of people.
As at the end of May this year, the number of active Mobile Money agents stood at 124,000 and over 5000 mobile canvassers. Some of these agents, prior to the introduction of MoMo had no meaningful employments. We are proud that our innovation has given them hope and the opportunity to earn a living.
Activities for the Celebrations
In appreciation of the contribution of its customers to the success of Mobile Money, the company has planned a number of activities including a promotion for subscribers to win various prizes from now till August.
In his own words: “The high-point is that we are giving away 10 cars and lots of other mouthwatering prizes including e-cash.
The full details of events and activities planned for the anniversary will be shared with you in the course of the program”, Mr Hini stated.
All these interventions achieved by the service has simplified the lives of our customers hence the choice of theme for the 10th anniversary celebrations “MoMoAt10…Making Life Simple”. That is just what it is.
Special Contributions
“We contributed to the payment of leap which was highly successful at the time. In addition, we are Digitizing the Agric Value chain, Scaling up female participation in MoMo Merchants and driving inflow of foreign currency through the remittance service-In the first quarter of this year we enabled the receipt of $90m of remittances.
We can confidently say that today, MoMo is a key revenue generator for MTN Ghana.
Indeed MoMo set a world record – during the launch of MTN’s IPO we were the first in the world that people were enabled to buy shares using MoMo”.
Special thanks
Mr Hini used the occasion to thank our subscribers, technology and financial partners, regulator-Bank of Ghana for their continued support. Their requirements, demands, challenges and feedback continue to motivate us to innovate, create and improve vigorously.
Challenges
While the company celebrates its achievements made over the past decade, it does not lose sight of the challenges that it faces in the Mobile Money sector.
“As we continue to work hard, there are still concerns about fraud activities. We continue to call on everyone to constantly educate friends and families to be extra vigilant in protecting their Mobile Money wallets.
We still have some adoption issues especially in the area of payments. Our merchants are slow in coming on board but we believe just like the initial subscriber adoption challenges, we will surmount that also”, according to him.
Into the Future
The 10th anniversary of MoMo gives the managers of the company an opportunity to reflect and ponder over how far they have come and to plan and prepare for the future.
“As we are constantly working to improve our services, we are confident that the future will be brighter with more opportunities on our Mobile Money platform.
We are looking forward to a future where MoMo will be an acceptable mode of receipt and payment of all government transactions and every form of financial transaction.
We are launching MoMo @10 here in the market today because we want all traders to know that mobile money makes life very simple so it should not be difficult for the vegetables, tubers, grains and the charcoal sellers to accept MoMo as the mode of receiving payments from their patrons. MTN Ghana is still committed to seeing that Ghana goes Cashless with Mobile Money”.
The Chief Executive Officer of MTN Ghana, Selorm Adadevoh who performed launch, assured customers that the next 10 years of MTN MoMo is going to be exciting and urged them to stay glue to the MTN brand.
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