Integration Marketing In Action

Mobile Money- Banking the unbanked masses of Africa's cell phone users


http://www.wizzit.co.za/
http://www.safaricom.co.ke/index.php?id=228

Integration Point: Traffic streams integration point

UMV: There are three UMVs or Units of Marketing Value in this integration deal. The first one is Self Banking, the second one is Mobile Money and the third is M-Commerce. In 2005, Africa had 135 million mobile subscribers. It is estimated that mobile subscribers in Africa will hit 400 million by 2010. Majority of these subscribers do not have access to banks but they have banking needs and a way to send and receive money. It is estimated that $93 billion in remitances are sent to Africa each year.

Wizzit Bank, a subsidiary of The South African Bank of Athens Limited and Safaricom's M-Pesa based in Kenya have tapped into Africa's Mobile Subscriber Traffic Stream, most of whom to do have a bank account, providing them mobile banking and Mcommerce through their cells.

In North America, SelfBank Mobile Financial, a Canadian entity, has set up a platform to exploit the Traffic stream of mobile device users to provide self banking and mcommerce for anyone with a mobile device anywhere in the world and are in pre launch right now.

Why: I think this is exceptionally interesting because it holds enormous potential for the emerging MCommerce as it brings banking to the reach of the neglected masses of the world's poor. It also opens up banking for average small operator. The average mom and pop business entity, serving as a middleman for the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), can now provide the same kind of services that banks traditionally provide.


Brought to you by Austin Akalane

Site:
http://www.selfbankmobile.com/akanett