Telecommunications giant MTN South Africa (MTN SA) has entered into a $2-million partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-sector arm of the World Bank Group, to expand its mobile money (MoMo) business in South Africa.

The partnership will result in the establishment of a strong network of MoMo agents in the country to reach the unbanked and underbanked population.

Through a strong employment drive, the partners aim to recruit 10 000 MoMo agents before the end of this year to increase access to affordable financial services in the underserved communities.

“MTN will identify, recruit, enrol, train and supervise the new MoMo agents and assist any dormant MoMo agents by giving them support where they struggle to get off the ground,” says MTN SA mobile financial services CEO Felix Kamenga.

In addition, a team of trade development representatives will be created and trained to manage the portfolio of MoMo agents, support them in growing their businesses and managing compliance regulations such as Anti Money Laundering and Know Your Customer, says Kamenga.

“The growth and development of 10 000 MoMo agent businesses across the country not only benefits local communities and economies, but has the ripple effect of many more unbanked and underbanked South Africans having an opportunity to manage their money digitally, wherever they are.”

The aim is to have viable standalone businesses that can increase transactional activity for the agents and increase awareness of MoMo value-add services.

“MoMo is a perfect example of this and is needed now, more than ever, to help small businesses to grow and to reach communities where access to financial services is low,” says IFC South Africa country manager Adamou Labara.

The programme will also focus on empowering and involving women-owned businesses in the financial sector.

“IFC has assisted with funding and advisory services in several other fintech operations in Africa and this partnership provides the opportunity to bridge the digital divide and broaden financial inclusion in South Africa,” Kamenga says.

In February 2020, MTN went live with its MoMo service in South Africa. It is the company’s third attempt at deploying MoMo services in the country.

By June last year, one-million MoMo users had been registered in South Africa, said Kamenga.

Payment Systems “Digital technologies are helping connect businesses with customers and suppliers and increasing access to lending and payment systems for individuals and small businesses,” he adds.

“In this programme we hope to bring this to fruition by engaging with small and medium-sized retail businesses with a particular focus on developing youth and women and underserviced areas,” concludes Kamenga.