Overcoming obstacles in the promotion of mobile money in Africa will be done by bridging misunderstandings, claims Khaled Mikkawi, Chief Executive Officer of MTN Rwanda.
“The significant growth (is due to) understanding in the mobile industry,” said Mikkawi during yesterday’s Mobile Money session at AfricaCom 2012.
Mikkawi explained the greatest challenges in the advance of the mobile industry are the regulations on customer protection and financial sectors viewing mobile money as a threat.
The circumstances have now changed to where these companies seek to partner with, rather than compete against, mobile money services.
“The future of mobile Africa lies to develop and go beyond,” Mikkawi said. A further challenge encountered in Africa is reaching communities over large distances.
According to Makkawi, the solution is “to optimise what is already in place in order to scale up on customer expansion and enhance the users’ lifestyle”.
Rwanda has already been a “big success” story for MTN. Mikkawi said the key to supporting growth is to provide points of sales with a prominent presence to also make money.
Statistics show 20 percent of MTN’s subscribers are already active users of mobile money. MTN is targeting to more than double users, predicting a 50 percent usage within the next year.
The overall use of mobile money in African networks is forecasted to grow up to 15 percent in total revenue.
Mobile money currently supplies services in electricity retail, paying bills and also acts as a saving mechanism.
