Mobile Money and Mobile Loans & Savings fueling a cashless economy in Uganda
Mobile Money has been around for quite sometime now – enabling individuals to transfer money and pay bills all over Uganda. Mobile money transfer has morphed quickly into mobile payments and mobile banking products. The latest addition to the Mobile Money use case being the ability to save in small amounts and access credit facilities right on your smartphone.
MTN Uganda pioneered this service in the country with the launch of MoKash Mobile Money loans and savings scheme. Subscribers to the service can take up unsecured loans between UGX 3,000 up to UGX 1,000,000. While saving as little as UGX 50 and earning up to a maximum of 5% interest.
See: MoKash: What you need to know about the Savings and Loans product
The developed world views cash as an obsolete, inefficient system of payment that only technologically backward people use. In fact, apart from card payments, which have been around for quite a while, most Western European and American societies are quickly moving to digital payments involving smartphones linked to a bank account – with NFC payments, Apple Pay et al.
In most developed African cities today, you’ll come across millennials who are mobile-mad and Uber-euphoric, who expect payments to be contactless and money to be a set of digits on a screen, not crumpled, smelly notes in a wallet. This means they shift from cash transactions into a digital ecosystem that’s relatively cheap, secure, and reliable.
Mobile loans to wield the full potential of Mobile Money Transactions
The biggest player in the country, MTN Mobile Money is helping customers make payments and transfer money in unprecedented ways. Many subscribers are utilizing the wide range of services – from making merchant payments to settling water, electricity bills & pay TV, sending money to loved ones for food, clothing, medicine and books. It is also now being used to pay employee salaries through their mobile phones.
Many online and mobile shopping businesses are fast adapting and integrating Mobile Money as a form of accepting payments within their systems.
Now with the advent of MoKash micro loans and savings, we can predict more transactions via mobile money as subscribers will have access to more money in their mobile wallets – facilitating effortless, instant, convenient and efficient access to financial services and transactions.
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