MTN Ghana, has launched the 2023 MoMo Season in Takoradi on the theme “Addressing the barriers to digital payments adoption in Ghana”.
The season, which is celebrated in the months of August and September, is to create awareness on the various opportunities MoMo offers in the digital economy and celebrate valued partners as well as customers.
Prince Owusu-Nyarko, Senior Manager, South-West Business of MTN, at the launch explained that MTN MoMo has impacted the lives of millions of people in Ghana and beyond since it was introduced in 2009.
“From our first subscriber to over 11 million subscribers, offering mobile financial services to the banked and unbanked, and creating job opportunities for millions of Ghanaians. It has increased access to financial services for millions of people which has led to strengthening of the payment ecosystem and deepening financial inclusion” he said. Mobile money has become more than just a mobile financial service.
Currently, he said MoMo customers have access to a wide array of services including payments, investments, insurance, remittances, pensions among others. It has redefined how we do business, how payments and transactions are made, and provided many people with livelihoods.
He said, according to the 2022 Summary of Economic and Financial Data by the Bank of Ghana, mobile money transactions in 2022 hit a record GH¢1.07 trillion despite the implementation of the e-levy as compared to about GH¢ 902.5 billion in 2021.
Mr. Owusu-Nyarko noted that “Addressing Barriers to Digital Payments Adoption in Ghana, which is this year’s theme, is a step further towards realizing our Ambition 2025 strategy of leading digital solutions for Africa’s progress and leading the drive for digital and financial inclusion in Ghana and across Africa”.
He mentioned Interoperability challenges, fake identification cards, platform infrastructure, onboarding customers, MoMo fraud among others have impeded digital payments adoption in Ghana.
He continued that MTN Ghana and MobileMoney Limited are committed to addressing these challenges by working closely with various stakeholders and partners in a bid to build a robust, efficient, and more inclusive digital payments ecosystem in the country.
On Momo fraud, he said “we continue to beef up efforts across various touch-points to stay ahead of them. Through robust and stringent measures, multi-sectorial collaboration as well as intensified public education, we will continue to tackle MoMo fraud and bring perpetrators to book. Although our efforts have contributed to a marginal decline in these fraudulent activities, there is still more work to be done”.
Way forward
As we strive and work hard to achieve our Ambition 2025 strategy of transitioning to a platform player and a full-fledged digital-first technology company, we will continue to work in collaboration with other partners and industry players to address the barriers in Ghana’s digital payments sector. We intend to accelerate growth in the digital payments sector and further boost financial inclusion in the country by continuing to invest in digital infrastructure, by employing a multi-sectorial approach to policy formulation and by building strategic partnerships and collaborations.
