MobiKash Afrika Limited, a private company incorporated in Kenya, unveiled on Thursday last week the first independent mobile commerce ecosystem in the country.
The platform, which will work across all four GSM networks (Safaricom, Airtel, Orange and Yu) and across all participating banks in Kenya, will deliver a wide range of services through a growing network of banks and agents.
The MobiKash platform is developed in partnership with Sybase 365, a global leader in mobile commerce and messaging services, with more than 700 mobile operators and an estimated 3 billion subscribers around the world.
The launch follows a rigorous one year pilot programme in three banks - National Bank of Kenya, Postbank and Transnational Bank - in compliance with the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) and Central Bank of Kenya regulatory frameworks.
MobiKash’s CEO Duncan Oduor Otieno said at the launch his company was in talks with players in the financial services sector to bring on board more banks.
"We are happy to be at the forefront of delivering a revolutionary product that will significantly grow the financial services landscape, by leveraging technology," he said. "The potential for this new mobile commerce ecosystem is unlimited, and the one-year pilot phase has given us an opportunity to gauge some of the ripple effects of such a service in this market."
He said apart from spurring job creation and stimulating economic growth, MobiKash also presents a unique opportunity for individuals and organisations to transform the way they manage their finances.
For the unbanked, MobiKash will offer a universal bank account through its network of agents, which will allow the potential customers to pick a bank account of their choice. The Popote Account will be accessible through any MobiKash agent, as well as through any of the partnering banks. This, according to Mr Otieno, will bridge the gap between the banked and the unbanked population.
MobiKash chairperson Muthoni Kuria said that the MobiKash model also allows bank customers to conveniently withdraw cash directly from their bank accounts at any of the MobiKash agent outlet without revealing their bank account details to the agents. MobiKash thus allows one agent to conveniently and seamlessly serve all the banks in the market.
MobiKash customers will have the capability to link up to 15 bank accounts to their mobile wallet. This innovation is the first of its kind in the world, according to the company.
Central Bank of Kenya Governor Njuguna Ndung'u hailed the new sevice and said MobiKash had fulfilled all the necessary statutory requirements to offer Mobile Money Transfer Mervices and Integrated Mobile Banking and Payment System.
Information Minister Samuel Poghisio said Kenya continues to make good progress in its quest to leverage ICT in delivering tangible benefits across the socio-economic spectrum. He said: “With our efforts concerted towards achieving Vision 2030, innovative breakthroughs such as these take us many steps closer towards realising the broader ideals across diverse frontiers.”
He said that the launch of MobiKash would complement initiatives GSM operators that have so far seen about 14.5 million subscribers access mobile-based financial services.
The company targets to enroll about 300,000 subscribers within the first six months of its operations. MobiKash subscribers will access the wide range of services to be provided by over3,000 agents who have already been contracted to be activated after this launch. MobiKash plans to enlist more agents across all the 47 counties in the next six months.
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