By Juliet Aguiar DUGBARTEY, Takoradi
MTN Ghana, as part of its 15 -year anniversary milestone, has awarded 30 MoMo Agents and 60 merchants in the South-West Business District, for their commitment and improvement in the sector.
They received e-cash, ranging from GH¢ 1,000 to GH¢ 15,000, motor bike among others.
Prince Owusu-Nyarko, Regional Senior Manager for South-West Business Division of MTN explained that “after 15 years, we are happy to say that we have co-created and contributed significantly to Ghana’s Fintech industry by way of; direct and indirect employment of Ghanaians”.
“We have improved government revenue, facilitating businesses – micro enterprises and created digital entrepreneurs. Above all, we have brought dignity to many Ghanaians through the transformative power of financial inclusion” he said.
Mr. Nyarko recalled that “fifteen years ago, we embarked on a journey, unsure about the destination. However, we envisioned a future where every Ghanaian across the length and breadth of the country could access financial services with ease and convenience through the mobile phone”.
He said, this was a time where mobile penetration was still growing with limited penetration of smartphones. After much deliberation with technology experts, industry regulators and very critical stakeholders of the business, we launched Mobile Money as a service in 2009; taking inspiration from some initial deployment in East Africa – specifically Safaricom.
“But before then, we had to test the system and as captured in our records, the very first successful transaction was done by a staff of MTN then, on 25th September 2008 at 3:51pm. We officially launched the service on July 21st, 2009, by the Governor of the Bank of Ghana at the time Dr. Paul Acquah, under the leadership of Bruno Akpaka our first General Manager”, he said.
He continued that “we introduced a unique concept of multiple bank partners, kicking off with nine partner banks, a testament of our open partnership play”.
Mr. Nyarko pointed out that MTN hit the ground running with the catchy commercial. It caught the attention of most Ghanaians and the phrase ‘Me Nsa aka” became associated with the service.
The beginning, he said was very slow and extremely difficult because; “what we had introduced was not just a breakthrough in technology, but a disruption of the orthodox means by which money is used and exchanged”.
He mentioned that people were not familiar with the process and benefits. Different approaches were used to get users and potential users to first understand the service, be confident about it and begin to use it.
“What was to become a service for everyday use had to be nurtured gradually because of the difficult beginnings. Once we got over the bump of lack of familiarity, we made a lot of progress and today, we can confidently say ‘‘here we are’’ he added.
David Woasey, Area Sales Manager, South-West Business Division of MTN congratulated the award recipients for their unwavering commitment.
