Afrigather MTN Cellular Cash (MoMo) started precisely Might 2022. Now in June 2023, precisely a 12 months and a month later, it’s but to be adopted by Nigerians on the road.
Looking for an MTN Cellular Cash (MoMo) agent is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. For weeks, I’d meant to enroll and check out MoMo, however I saved working into issues. One drawback: Whereas attempting to register with USSD, a immediate requested for my state and native authorities space. Since you fill in these particulars utilizing solely the primary three letters of the native authorities space, there’s no strategy to differentiate between Ojodu Berger and Ojo, for example. I figured that discovering a MoMo agent would resolve the issue. So on Friday, I walked the size of Ilori Moses road—for the second time in per week—to discover a MoMo agent. As I widened my search space, the responses have been the identical: many of the POS operators didn’t provide MTN’s Cellular Cash service and couldn’t direct me to brokers who did.
It wasn’t an enormous shock contemplating that the CEO of MoMo PSB Eli Hini, admitted on a name with TechCabal that the service continues to be searching for adoption. Per its 2023 first quarter result, MoMo has 3.2 million month-to-month energetic cell cash (MoMo PSB) wallets, accounting for 43.2% of the telco’s customers. Whereas MTN’s spectacular distribution lets it attain 19 million folks, it nonetheless has an extended strategy to go in turning into a service of alternative.
In line with Hini, “We now have over 3.5 million individuals who use wallets on a 30-day foundation to carry out transactions and that’s the place our focus is— to develop and permit many individuals who want our wallets to expertise transactions which are quick and simple to course of. We need to attain extra folks in Nigeria. By all means, we additionally allow conventional banks and cell cash account holders. Due to this fact, it must be attainable to have the ability to pay your mechanic, plumber or service supplier who doesn’t have a checking account however has a cell phone.”
However there’s nonetheless some strategy to go earlier than MoMo has a commanding market presence. In dialog with cell cash brokers in Lagos, TechCabal discovered that MoMo is just not particularly fashionable with customers.
Discovering MoMo customers in Lagos
“Persons are not utilizing the wallets, it isn’t frequent right here. There is just one girl that makes use of her MoMo pockets and I fund her,” Eniola Alatise, an agent who runs each the MoMo and POS service in Ikeja tells me. One other agent on the community based mostly in Magboro, Ogun state, Temitope Bukola, admits that utilization is decrease than the common POS. “Only a few folks use it, many of the essential customers are brokers that use it for switch and promoting of recharge playing cards. Individuals use it, however not just like the common POS,” she defined.
One other agent, Afariogun Michael, who operates a POS enterprise along with the cell cash service, in Oshodi, certainly one of Nigeria’s thriving markets informed TechCabal that for the MoMo service, the shopper determine is a mean of 30 clients every day. Even with this extra optimistic determine, it was nonetheless exhausting discovering MoMo customers. Of the three folks I spoke with at Ojo, Lagos, just one, a legislation scholar makes use of the service.
Recovering from a tough begin
Days after MTN launched MoMo in 2022, it misplaced over ₦10.5 billion to unauthorised transfers brought on by a system glitch. In line with a swimsuit dated Might 30, 2022, MoMo alleged that ₦22.3 billion ($48 million) was transferred in error to eight,000 accounts maintained by the 18 banks’ clients utilizing MoMo. It’s attainable {that a} lack of belief may very well be stalling wider adoption.
However Hini informed TechCabal that the agency is now previous that and it has appealed to tremendous brokers and fintech firms to make use of its platform, as it could possibly guarantee higher safety. “What we’ve carried out as a enterprise is give consolation to our clients and likewise the reassurance that we as a enterprise have enhanced our governance throughout the interval and improved on varied interventions and controls. Do not forget that on this ecosystem, you may have interactions that aren’t dependent in your platform and we’ve third social gathering integration as properly. A number of work we’ve carried out is to strengthen controls alongside integration and partnership preparations,” he mentioned on the decision.
MoMo’s CEO envisions a future the place the service is dwelling to the banked, unbanked and underserved. But, there’s nonetheless some strategy to go if MoMo will replicate the success of cell cash companies like Mpesa or Wave.
