Mojaloop, a financial inclusion platform developed by ModusBox with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has entered the Ugandan market with developers optimistic that it will solve financial interoperability challenges, especially across the mobile money operators.
Mojaloop is an open-source software for financial services companies, government regulators, and others taking on the challenges of interoperability and financial inclusion.
In West Africa; MTN and Orange Group are using it for a joint mobile money wallet product code-named MOWALI while Tanzania, at the start of this year, rolled out the Tanzania Instant Payments System (TIPS) fully supported by the same software.
Its entry into the Ugandan market comes on the back of recent mobile money glitches that made it impossible for MTN Mobile Money customers to send money to Airtel Money customers and vice-versa for over two months.
Even though the standoff that both telecoms blamed on technical glitches has since been resolved, its impact on mobile money users for the two months was overwhelming.
Speaking at the Hack Mojaloop Developers workshop held at Design Hub Kampala early this week, Innocent Kawooya, the chief executive officer of HiPipo–the local partner spearheading the software’s adoption in Uganda, noted that Mojaloop, as a cross network transactions enabling platform, will ease the needed investment by financial players with more volumes that will bring down transaction costs in a secure financial establishment.
“Financial inclusion for the poor deserves sustainable technology and business approaches to ensure financial services penetration covers everyone. The Open Source Community players, such as HiPipo, Modusbox, Crosslake are coming together to ensure that Africa at large and Uganda in particular, is at the forefront of financial inclusion.”
Patrick Adengo, a digital-financial inclusion expert at Stalworth Consulting Group, said Mojaloop is a good way to combine all the key players in the inclusive finance industry.
The developers’ workshop is part of the Include EveryOne summit slated for today at Mestil Hotel Kampala. The summit is expected to attract over 200 participants from across Africa, to explore the strategic trends and technologies that are shaping the future of financial inclusion, digital, IT and business.
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Digital financial services have become the leading driver of financial inclusion for the unbanked in many developing countries.
In Uganda, the 2018 FINSCOPE report indicated a 78% surge in the country’s financial inclusion rate majorly supported by mobile money services.
Thus represent 14.4 million Ugandans. The report indicated that 23% of Ugandans save money on the mobile money platform, compared to only 11% who save with commercial banks.
Despite their contribution, however, digital financial experts say end users should be involved from the start of developing digital financial services to witness faster and meaningful financial inclusion.
Speaking during the annual Digital Impact Awards Africa (DIAA) in Kampala recently, the ModusBox vice-president, Warren Carew, said involving the target audiences at an early stage ensures introduction of the right digital financial products that meet people’s needs. This, he said, ensures quicker adoption.
“You may have a brilliant product in your vision but if it is not meeting the consumer need, there will be a challenge for adoption,” Carew, who also represented the Gates Foundation said.
He added: “Let us try to understand what people at the bottom need. They need reliable and accessible services; they need education and we must address that. We need to start simple. Financial inclusion starts with access to everyone. We need to be able to use financial systems to do anything. Financial inclusion must include everyone at every level — creation, access and usage,” he said.
The awards seek to recognise and reward individuals and organisations across Africa that are spearheading the use of digital tools to enhance financial and digital inclusion, for continental economic transformation.
They were organised by HiPipo in partnership with the Gates Foundation, ModusBox and CrossLake Tech under the theme Include Everyone.
The HiPipo chief executive officer, Innocent Kawooya, said an economy that includes everyone benefits all. As such, the programme sensitises operators and service providers to bring financial services to the poor through the use of innovative business models and mobile technology,” Kawooya added.
Investment ambassador, Maggie Kigozi urged African central banks to be agile and adapt to the changing financial services sector to ensure financial soundness and stability.
“The Central Bank may still be nervous about these new areas that they may not be able to regulate digital financial services easily but they are the ones to guide us because we trust them. It is important that they take a lead on this and update us on what is happening and how we benefit from these innovations,” she said.
Winners.
On the continental level, MTN was crowned the Africa Best Digital Enabler (internet, devices) of the year while the Africa Best Mobile App (FinTech and telecom) went to Standard Chartered Mobile.
The Africa Best FinTech Innovator award went to Craft Silicon (financial solution provider in banking software virtual banking, mobile lending, e-voucher and agency banking), while the gold award for Africa Best Digital Financial Services Platform went to Ericsson and silver to Comviva.
At the local level, MTN MoKash won the best saving, lending/credit product award while Standard Chartered won best digital banking.
Other winners were MTN MoMopay (best mobile payments- Gold) Beyonic (mobile payments — silver), United Bank of Africa (cards payments) Pride Microfinance (community banking), Airtel (digital customer experiencefinancial Services — Gold and Centenary Bank (community banking), Airtel (digital customer experience-financial Services silver).
National Water and Sewerage Corporation (best digital customer experience — utilities and government services), Centenary (social media – financial Services) Bell Lager (social media -consumer goods – gold), Movit (social media -consumer goods silver), Stanbic Blue Weekends (digital powered campaign – Stanbic Blue Weekends and Umeme and NWSC for best e-service, gold and silver, respectively.
Stanbic bank was crowned the digital brand of the year.
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HiPipo, through its Include Everyone program is delighted to celebrate global business leader Bill Gates with a Digital Impact Awards Africa honor, the ‘Africa’s Financial Inclusion Medal of Honor.’
“The Africa Financial Inclusion Medal of Honor is awarded to an individual or organization that has made exceptional contribution to Africa’s Digital space, by specifically taking lead in ensuring that there is provision of affordable, reliable and accessible financial services across the continent.” noted Innocent Kawooya, CEO, HiPipo.
According to GSMA 2018 report, mobile money is now available in 100 countries through over 300 services globally. The number of verified mobile money accounts is reaching a total of half a billion globally with strong growth in Sub-Saharan Africa.
This fast-growing mobile money penetration that has greatly improved financial inclusion to the poorest of the poor is thanks to the tremendous work done by development partners that have invested time and money in research and delivery of sustainable financial solutions for the poor. Notable among such partners is the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The different researches and productions/live projects that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is supporting are mammoth contributions that demonstrate how different industries can innovate and positively transform life using mobile financial services.
It is against this background that Digital Impact Awards Africa appreciates this noble contribution and thus presents the “Africa’s Financial Inclusion Medal of Honor, 2019” to Bill Gates, the Co-chairman of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The Medal of Honor was accompanied with a Special Fiber Mosaic Art Piece
It is an original and unique piece with a patterned surface consisting of various simple patterns of quite collaborated color effects made with small pieces of banana fibre, plywood and glue.
Godfrey Kabaale Phipo crafted the best ever most durable, greatest looking, most admirable medal to celebrate Bill Gates. In his own words,
“This art piece is a patterned surface made with small pieces of banana fibre, stuck on plywood with art glue. This art piece took me 6,570 man hours to finish. It required a detailed and customized attention for any slight distraction would make me lose truck. This art piece will forever be a very special art piece to me because it has made me discover the potential I never imagined I had.”
The Digital Impact Awards Africa honor and special mosaic art piece was received by Dr. Warren D. Carew, Vice President – Payment at ModusBox on behalf of the Gate Foundation at the recently concluded 6th edition of Include Everyone Summit and #DIAA2019.
Since their inception, the Digital Impact Awards Africa (DIAA) have enjoyed increasing international recognition. Today they are among the most respected and sought-after prizes bestowed.
Their prestige, acknowledged within Africa and rest of the world, has grown over the years because the public and digital industry recognizes the DIAA as an award based on technical achievement and because care has been taken to preserve the integrity of the DIAA. Specifically, the Digital Impact Awards Africa has carefully limited reproductions of the DIAA statuettes.
The Tanzanian government is investing some TShs. 2.2trillion (about UGX. 3.5trillion) in expanding its main sea ports of Dar es Salaam, Tanga and Mtwara.
This huge investment is part of President John Pombe Magufuli’s Central Corridor blueprint, with an ultimate goal of wooing traders from East, Central and Southern Africa in to using Tanzania sea ports for international trade.
About 50 per cent of this money is being injected in upgrading the Dar es Salaam which handles over 90 per cent of international trade goods consumed locally and those in transit. Other countries that use the Dar Port are DR Congo, Zambia, Rwanda, Burundi, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Uganda and South Sudan.
A female cargo forklift driver goes on with her work at the Dar es Salaam Port
On completion, the Dar Port will be able to handle 6000 containers vessels from the current 4000 containers capacity. It will also have 7 modernised vessel berths, a 15 metres deep harbour, better port layout and direct connection to both the Standard and Metre gauge railways among other facilities.
In a recent interview, Mr Elihuruma Lema, the acting Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) Director for Dar es Salaam noted that at the end of the on-going works, the Dar es Salaam Port will be the most sought-after port in the region.
“Dare es Salaam Port was designed to handle around 13.5 million tonnes. Recently, we have been handling more than 15 million tonnes. As such, we have been having capacity issues and these necessitated an urgent expansion. The moment we complete the works on the port overhaul and also finish the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), we shall be faster, cheaper and more efficient,” Mr Lema said, adding:
“We are also undertaking the electronic single window system. We are planning that this system will be integrated with the non-intrusive cargo scanners so that once you log in to that electronic single window system, you can track your cargo and know where it is. The single window system will cover government institutions in addition to being linked with neighboring countries. This will be completed in about three years.”
Mr Elihuruma Lema, the acting Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) Director for Dar es Salaam addressing Ugandan Journalists.
At the back of the Dar Port expansion are deliberate efforts to acquire more TPA customers in addition to retaining those already existing.
Uganda is the main country that Tanzania is courting thanks to its trade potential (currently enjoyed by Mombasa Port), coupled with ability to unlock both the South Sudan and eastern DR Congo markets.
The 2018 Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) ranks Uganda as the leading user of the Mombasa Port in terms of transit cargo, covering about 82 per cent of all imports and exports.
Even worse for Tanzania is the fact that Uganda goods passing through Dar es Salaam declined in the recent financial year.
According to statistics from TPA, about 187,000 tonnes of Uganda goods were processed through Dar es Salaam in the 2018/19 financial year, compared to the over 225,000 tonnes processed in the 2017/18 financial year. The sharp decline was attributed to railway infrastructure challenges that affected local cargo transportation system.
Nonetheless, TPA and other Tanzania trade facilitation agencies are pulling all strings to change the direction of this narrative.
Key among the incentives that TPA is offering to Uganda is longer transit cargo grace period of 30 days, compared to 14 days for goods destined to other countries. The other is dedicated customer support and cost effectiveness.
“We have created a Ugandan cargo communication group that has TPA, Tanzania, Railway Corporations, URA, clearing agents and all other trade facilitation agencies. The moment cargo is offloaded; we start monitoring and sharing information. Once a customer from Uganda has a challenge, it is dropped in the group and we handle it immediately. This support is 24/7,” Mr Lema.
In addition, the ongoing refurbishment of the inland Mwanza Port on the shores of Lake Victoria and SGR works are meant to address the inland transport glitches along the central corridor. But then, even Kenya is equally improving the northern corridor with concentration on SGR and refurbishing Kisumu Port.
Even though it is not yet all systems go at TPA, the current works on the Dar Port which are part of the rivalry between Dar es Salaam and Mombasa are positive for Ugandan traders.
Leading Digital Financial Services (DFS) technologist, Warren Carew will be a keynote speaker at the 2019 Digital Impact Awards Africa (#DIAA2019) summit slated for 20th September at the Kampala Serena Hotel.
Warren was a core member of the team that developed and successfully launched the world changing mobile money service M-PESA in Kenya in 2007.
He is currently the Vice President and General Manager of ModusBox – a software firm that enables enterprise integration through Business to Business (B2B) digital and finance services solutions.
Their latest revolution is Mojaloop; an open-source software for financial services companies, government regulators, and others taking on the challenges of interoperability and financial inclusion. Mojaloop is supported by Global System Mobile Association (GSMA) and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
About #DIAA2019.
Under the theme Include Everyone, Digital Impact Awards Africa is a platform that promotes Digital Inclusion, Financial Inclusion and Cybersecurity. The #DIAA2019 summit will be attended by C-Level Executives, Senior Digital and Finance players from across the continent.
This summit will explore the strategic trends and technologies that are shaping the future of financial inclusion, Digital, IT and business. Over 500 African executives will come together to discuss key topics including digital financial inclusion, interoperability, data & analytics, artificial intelligence, customer experience, Cybersecurity and much more.
Also on the agenda are the Awards which recognize, celebrate and appreciate different individuals and organizations that are spearheading the use of digital mediums to better serve their communities.
“There are 16 Uganda and 6 Continental Categories. The most coveted accolade is Digital Brand of the Year. The six shortlisted nominees for Digital Brand of the Year (Airtel, MTN, Centenary, DFCU, Stanbic and Standard Chartered Bank) were assessed for their digital first approach to changing the lives of Ugandans, mainly disadvantaged communities – women, youth and PWDs,” Innocent Kawooya, the CEO HiPipo – the organisers of the event noted.
See you all on 20th September at Kampala Serena Hotel.
When Nick Hughes, and Susie Lonie, under the stewardship of Safaricom CEO Michael Joseph founded M-pesa in 2007 in Kenya, key on their agenda was to make money transfers seamless, efficient, affordable and accessible for everyone; the rich, middle class and the poor.
Then in 2009, MTN became the first telecom in Uganda to venture in to the financial sector with the roll-out of MTN Mobile Money.
Since then, a lot has happened; underscored by millions of Ugandans transacting trillions of shillings through mobile financial services annually.
In a bid to further broaden the mobile money transactions coverage and also enhance financial inclusion, Bank of Uganda (BoU) in 2017 directed telecoms offering mobile financial services (MFS) to implement mobile money interoperability.
Digital Impact Awards Africa defines Interoperability as “the ability for mass market users of digital financial services to perform transactions between accounts at/of different providers, for the case of this article sending money from Airtel to MTN and vice versa.”
Both MTN and Airtel heeded to the BOU directive and subsequently enabled both cross-network and cross-border mobile money transactions.
For over one year, this new service saved customers both money and time in additional to mitigating safety threats that come with handling hard cash. An MTN customer intending to send money to an Airtel Money customer could do so automatically from his/her phone thus eliminating the hustle of withdrawing cash from an MTN Mobile Money agent and then sending to the intended receiver’s account through an Airtel Money agent.
Unfortunately, Mobile Money Interoperability amongst Uganda telecoms was indefinitely unavailable between late June and 23 August 2019, with both Airtel and MTN citing technical failures as the root cause of this impasse.
Minus being a clear step backwards, the on-going standoff between Airtel and MTN Uganda which has been brought to BOU attention has seen customers directly lose their hard earned money and waste a lot of time. Let me give just two examples.
In one scenario, an MTN Mobile Money user sent money to an Airtel Money user; the latter received the money but for some reason, MTN didn’t deduct the money from the former. Three weeks later, MTN deducted the money and communicated the same in a message which copy I was showed and can reproduce here and now.
“An adjustment has been made and (amount in UGX) has been withdrawn from your mobile money account at 2019-07-05 ………..”
Surprisingly, a week later, Airtel Uganda also deducted the same amount from the recipient. When he visited an Airtel service centre to find out why his money was deducted from his account with no explanation, he was told that while he received and used money on his account, MTN hadn’t remitted the same to Airtel thus this latest cash withdrawal.
In another scenario, an MTN Mobile Money customer initiated a five figure transaction to another Airtel Money customer, the latter didn’t receive but a few days later, money was deducted from the former’s account because MTN had processed the transaction on its side. But Airtel blocked the same and thus the intended receiver didn’t get anything.
When the original sender shared his grievances with MTN Uganda, he was asked to present mobile money statements (for his account and that of the intended receiver) to prove that the transaction was unsuccessful, after which MTN would gladly do a prompt refund. Luckily, within a few days, the sender was able to get the two signed account statements and his money was promptly refunded.
In both examples, the customers are at pain because the systems are not communicating. As a technology advocate, I appreciate tech and its shortcomings. I know for sure that there are always system failures and downtimes every once in a while. But this doesn’t justify the indefinite suspension of mobile money interoperability services between these two giant telecoms to date.
Nonetheless, for whatever reasons that were given to explain this confusion, the complete switch off of the service was unwarranted, more so at this point in time when interoperability is attracting a high level of attention from digital finance experts across the continent.
For example, with support from Global System Mobile Association (GSMA) and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s open-source platform Mojaloop, MTN and Orange in 2018 launched a joint venture to enable interoperable payments across Africa.
Code named Mowali – mobile wallet interoperability; it is open to any mobile money provider in Africa, as well as to banks, money transfer operators and other financial services providers. Such is happening across Africa and Uganda must never be left out.
Digital Impact Awards Africa which drives sensitization of technologies to better Interoperability over the last year has further spread the gospel for better technologies such as Mojaloop to ensure more reliable interoperable services. Operators in Uganda should move faster on these technologies’ adoption.
With goodwill, both MTN and Airtel can, and should ensure that Mobile Money Interoperability works because cross network transactions are critical in enhancing financial inclusion for the poor. Bank of Uganda and Uganda Communications Communication should also take interest to see to it that this happens.
Update : On 23rd August, Airtel Uganda communicated that it had fixed the technical issue and thus Airtel Money customers could once again send and receive money from MTN Mobile Money customers. It took over 2 months for this to be fixed unfortunately.
The writer (Innocent Kawooya) is the CEO HiPipo, also project lead – Digital Impact Awards Africa.
The writer is the CEO HiPipo, also project lead – Digital Impact Awards Africa.
