Mobile money services services making more inroads

Mobile money is reaching more than 411 million people globally.

Moreover, it is available in 85 per cent of countries where the vast majority of the population lacks access to a formal financial institution.

This is an extraordinary achievement, demonstrating the power of mobile, underpinned by the critical role mobile network operators have played in building this industry.

However, while the success to date is to be celebrated, the future success of mobile money depends on the industry’s capacity to adapt to a changing landscape.

The findings from the 2015 report provide insights on both current and future trends, giving better visibility on what is changing and how to adapt. This year, we see four key trends that will impact the industry’s evolution:

First, with an increasingly active customer base, further development of the mobile money ecosystem will be essential to diversify customer usage. Second, operational foundations and agent management remain critical to digitise cash.

Third, greater investment will be key for providers to compete in an online world. Fourth, while mobile money is reaching further than ever before, there is still an opportunity to reach underserved segments, particularly women and rural consumers.

In the same vein, the country’s mobile money industry has continued to attract global attentions thanks to better regulation which has allowed interoperable mobile money services become a reality .

International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, has launched a consumer education campaign to raise awareness about interoperable mobile money services that help to promote financial inclusion in Tanzania.

The IFC, with the support of Bank of Tanzania, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Financial Sector Deepening Trust have facilitated the industry-led discussions that have led to an agreement among the four operators and continues to work with key actors in the market to deepen and strengthen financial inclusion, an IFC statement said recently.

In a report christened, ‘Achieving Interoperability in Mobile Financial Services: Tanzania Case Study,’ IFC said it identified limited awareness of interoperability, coupled with competitive pressures and lack of trust among operators as key barriers to growth in the sector.

“Mobile payments services have had a tremendous impact in promoting financial inclusion in many countries of the world, including Tanzania and its neighbouring countries.

IFC is investing in the continued development of the regional innovation and is providing investments and technical support to banks, mobile network operators, microfinance institutions and other payment services providers.

The project, the statement noted, will be rolled out over six months from March to September 2017 and IFC has appointed Fern Tanzania Ltd, a Tanzanian marketing firm to lead the campaign, in collaboration with the mobile phone operators.

In September 2014, Tanzania’s four major mobile phone operators-Vodacom, Tigo, Airtel and Zantel—reached an interoperability agreement to allow their customers to interact with each other while transacting.

“This agreement will enable customers to make payments from the mobile money account of one provider to the mobile money account of another provider.

This makes Tanzania one of the first countries in the world with an industry-agreed interoperable market for mobile financial services, the IFC statement concluded.

There is every reason for us to produce more milk

TANZANIA dairy development effort focuses its attention in high potential areas mostly located in the highlands.

Northern and southern highlands have been identified as ideal places for dairy production. Government has joined hands with donor agencies in these areas in order to implement its dairy development policies.

Dairy development has received emphasis because of three main reasons namely: improvement of nutritional status of the society through increased milk consumption, increased cash income for dairy farmers and saving in terms of reduced dairy import.

These considerations do not include social benefits from this development endeavour.

The livestock statistics in the zone indicate that there is a total cattle population of 1.8 million indigenous cattle and about 15,330 improved dairy cattle.

In the same vein, the government is working on incorporating a big number of farmers in serious commercial dairy farming in a move aimed at converting the informal market into a formal one, thereby creating fair competition.

According to the Tanzania Milk Processors Association (TAMPA) only three per cent of milk produced in the country is formally processed and sold, with the remaining 97 per cent being sold and consumed locally.

Through the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT), dairy farming is being promoted whereby farmers who keep dairy cattle are enhanced via capacity building, extension services from professional agricultural officers and assured of a reliable market.

Indeed there were many opportunities in the dairy sector and therefore our farmers should form groups that would enable them to practice commercial dairy farming and get easy access to funds.

For we believe that the dairy sector can produce a number of jobs along its value chain…we only need to be organised to grab them. Farmers have all the support of the government since it is thirsty for development.

With the government’s support many farmers have been able to secure a market for the milk that they produce daily in the Northern and southern regions.

Farmers should not struggle to access markets for their milk, but the demand was growing further following the government’s intervention through SAGCOT, whereby all the milk is now sold formally.

They should be eager to grow their businesses and get better breeds of dairy cows, storage and cooling tanks.

It is on record that dairy industry was not performing well due to high proportion of indigenous cattle that were being kept on farms, compared to dairy cows for milk production.

Tanzania has 780,000 dairy cows compared to Kenya’s 3.5 million.

Our milk production is low due to the small number of dairy cattle, undeveloped systems of milk collection, poor animal husbandry and genetic potential noting that poor feeding also hampered the development of the industry.

Also milk consumption in Tanzania was low compared to other East African nations because most people did not have a culture of drinking milk, despite its health benefits to human beings.

Regions with poor milk drinking tradition include Njombe, Iringa, Mbeya, Ruvuma, Rukwa, Kagera, Lindi, Mtwara and Kigoma and malnutrition was also high in the regions due to low intake of food, including milk.