Changing Lives
While the ownership of mobile phone among
women is cause of concern, the key is to focus
transform the women already owning the mobile
phone and get them onboarded to Mobile Money
platform. Once the women have understood the
importance of mobile money the bigger hurdle is
crossed and thereafter they can responsibly
adopt the mobile money. As per GSMA Report:
“It is estimated that, globally, 80 million
unbanked women receive government wages
or transfers in cash, 210 million unbanked
women receive cash payments for the sale of
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agricultural goods, 585 million women pay for
utilities in cash, and 225 million women pay
school fees in cash.” [5]
There is a huge opportunity for digitalizing these
payments and an estimate suggests that mobile
money can unlock an estimated $20 billion
market in Africa if mobile money accounts are
opened for women as it will generate new
revenue streams. Using mobile money platform,
following are the key recommendations that can
increase adoption of mobile money usage and
thus bridge the gender gap in financial inclusion:
Women as Brand Ambassadors
of Mobile Money:
The key factor that has led to mobile money
growth is developing economies is the agent
network and its reach in the geographies having
no banking infrastructure. The mobile money agents
directly interact with consumers by getting them
onboarded and doing the KYC (Know Your
Customer) verification process to combat
frauds. They support the consumers throughout
their mobile money journey by disbursing cash or
digitizing money. Thus the agent network becomes
the backbone of mobile money operations. In
2006, there were only 21584 registered agents in
the countries where mobile money services were
live. By the end of 2016, this number has gone
upto 4.3 million registered agents. To increase
mobile money usage among women, it is
recommended to have women agents that become
representatives or brand ambassadors in the
region. Female agents will help to build
confidence and trust among women to adopt
mobile money and women will be more comfortable
in interaction with their female counterpart rather
than with male agents. Few key focus points are:
a Brand Ambassadors of mobile money repre-
senting a specific region that can bring
financial literacy among women in that region.
b Female agents can be incentivized with attractive
commissions when they onboard new
women consumers to mobile money. In order
to promote usage, the agent who onboards
the consumer can get commission when the
consumer does first transaction other than
cash in or the commission can be spilt between
first two transactions and so on.
c In few countries where women are not allowed
to freely move outside their home, female
agents can visit their home and get the
women onboarded so as to mobilize their savings
and secure their money which is stacked at
home in the form of cash.
d In few countries, women cover their face and
they are hesitant to remove the veil in front of
male agents so that their photo can be taken.
However, if its a female agent then they can
get their photograph taken and KYC done.
Zoona, a startup in Zambia engaged in building
mobile money agent network, has found that
women tend to be more organized, better at
settling credit and reinvesting in their business.
Currently they have 70% of the agents as female.
“MoMo Angel Campaign” pilot was launched
by Lonestar Cell MTN to recruit and train women
as agents in October 2016 in Liberia. This has
become quite successful and Lonestar Cell has
launched attractive schemes to help women
purchase mobile phones. The agents are
incentivized by not just commission but also
financial aid for the education of their children,
preferably a girl child.