Deliberate investment needed to realise benefits of mobile money

GM- Sales Distributions Shaibu Haruna

These were some of the insights shared earlier today by Shaibu Haruna, MTN Uganda General Manager for Sales and Distribution, as he addressed delegates at the 16th annual AfricaCom conference currently underway in Cape Town. Haruna was part of a panel discussion on “How do mobile money services fit within mobile operators strategies?”.

Haruna said the mobile money service is rapidly evolving to allow customers to perform a myriad of transactions including money transfers, payments of goods and services and international remittance. However, he warned that approaching mobile money as just another Value Added Service would be detrimental to the success of the service.

“It is common practice for Mobile Network Operators to approach mobile money deployments as another value added service but are quick to realise that mobile money is a far more demanding service that requires a completely new skill set, organisational design and route to market to make it meaningful.”

He said that the benefits of the mobile money service include a contribution to revenue of the operator, an impact on churn and Average Revenue Per User, as well as an opportunity to leverage on the mobile money agent network, adding that deliberate investment is required from mobile operators, to realise such benefits.

“Building a sustainable mobile money ecosystem requires sustained investment in the technology platform, agent network and consumer education. Key areas of investment include agent training, branding, trade incentive and support. The demands on above-the-line and below-the-line campaigns using foot soldiers have proven impactful but could be costly, especially in the short-run,” said Haruna.

He concluded, that agent network design, speed of product innovation, and ease of use will remain key to market leadership when it comes to mobile money.

Haruna was the first of four MTN speakers at the AfricaCom conference. Tomorrow, MTN Group Chief Commercial Officer, Pieter Verkade, will join a panel of speakers to deliberate on “unleashing Africa’s creativity for digital consumers”, followed by MTN Ghana Executive for Customer Service Jemima Kotei, who will be talking the “do’s and don’ts of CEM strategies in Africa”. On the third and final day Kanagaratnam Lambotharan, Chief Enterprise Business Officer at MTN South Africa will deliver a presentation on “guaranteeing quality connectivity across the African continent”.

“[katogoaward]”