Mobile network subscribers and residents in the Kumasi metropolis, who remain unbanked, henceforth, have the unique chance to be a part of the growing cash-lite economy.
This is because telecom giant, MTN Ghana, is using its Mobile Money (MoMo) platform to help persons who do not have access to the services of a bank or similar financial institution to experience real banking on their mobile devices.
In May 2018, a World Bank Report titled “Gains in Financial Inclusion, Gains for a Sustainable World” cited that about 7.3 million Ghanaians have no mobile money accounts or bank accounts for electronic transactions.
To this end, MTN has reiterated, it remains resolved to bridge the gap and also to ensure financial inclusion and independence for everybody.
Speaking to Ultimate Business’ Patricia Bonsu, Thursday, at the official launch of the Mobile Money Month in Kumasi, General Manager for MTN Northern Sector, Nii Adotey Mingle mentioned that “Mobile Money Month is a month dedicated to raise awareness and educate all key stakeholders about mobile money and especially try to enhance financial inclusion in Ghana.”
“At present, we have about 9 million active MoMo users, 17 partner banks, over 100,000 agents and more than 50,000 merchants across the country.”
Nii Adotey Mingle made special mention of workers in the informal sector, who also deserve to be brought on board the seamless opportunities that MoMo provides for their businesses.
The MTN Northern Sector Boss also seized the moment to educate subscribers and patrons of MoMo on the activities of some unscrupulous persons which results in fraud.
According to him, when transacting business, customers must not under any circumstance give out their Personal Identification Numbers (PIN) to any other person, since that makes them vulnerable to criminals abusing the system.
“Any opportunity we have, we educate the customer or subscriber that your PIN is very sacred and that you are not supposed to give your phone to somebody to type your PIN for you.”
He added that “Annually we dedicate a lot of time, energy and resources on making sure that we educate the masses especially not only in the big cities, but in all the nooks and crannies of Ghana to ensure that people get to understand that if you release your PIN to somebody, if you entertain phone calls which are telling you to take money out, then you’re putting yourself at risk of being defrauded.”
“Every call that comes from MTN comes from only one number and that is 0244300000”, Nii Adotey hinted.
Activities lined up for this August, which marks the MTN Mobile Money Month includes town hall meetings with agents, merchants and partner banks, product activations, promotions for MoMo users to win exciting prizes, for using the platform to pay their bills, buy airtime, purchase internet bundles, transfer money, access bank services, pensions and insurance among others.
This year’s theme is “Digitizing Payment in Ghana, the Role of Mobile Money”.
Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/103.5FM/ Patricia Bonsu
