Category: Featured Hotspots

The mobile money wave is flowing fast across Africa and many factors point to the fact that Nigeria is the next big market. 

A 2010 study carried out by EFinA shows that 67.2% of the adult population in Nigeria have been excluded from financial
services for varying reasons.

Monthly subscriber data obtained from Nigerian Communications Communication (NCC) for the month of April 2012 shows that
94,531,980 GSM lines are active out of a total 119,460,789. Those figures do show that the opportunities abound in that spacefor a discerning investor to seize the moment.

The spotlight today is on ParkWay Projects, a leading software development & systems integration company specializing in electronic banking & electronic payment products and solutions. ReadyCash- their recently launched mobile money solution is fully adapted to the peculiarities of electronic business in Africa.

They have developed their mobile money platform to work with platforms that have gained mass appeal in Nigeria and the rest of the world: blackberry, Android and Java platforms.

The first time I came across Paga, I was looking to find a way to reduce my monthly trips to the bank to send money home. Smart Alec! Did I hear you say, ‘whatever happened to internet banking?’. Internet access was something you did not look forward to in the suburbs of the FCT where I lived. This was in 2010 and paga has grown from strength to strength since setting up shop in 2009.

Their business model leveraged on the ubiquity of mobile phones with the most basic of features- sms! This bottom-of-the-pyramid approach makes a strong case in removing the barriers associated with engaging in financial transactions in a regular brick and mortar model that modern day banks are.  In a country reported to have a whopping 80 million people outside a regulated banking industry, there did exist a window of opportunity for the brave. Their approach sought to use predefined sms instructions to engage in financial transactions.

There is a bit for everyone as their business model sought to include folks with conventional bank accounts were also factored in.

This means that anyone with a mobile phone could now send/ receive money and make payments at locations with the paga brand boldly emblazoned.

With more than 89,282 users and counting, you bet they are on to something really interesting.

We wish the brains behind this innovative idea and wish them success in their endeavours. Follow them on twitter at @mypaga and be sure to pay them a visit at www.mypaga.com

This sure is a great approach to deepening financial inclusion statistics of our dear country.

Collective responsibility for the common good of our communities is everyone’s responsibility. This is the thrust of social enterprises. We must refuse to leave our well-being wholly in the hands of the government. We must pitch in our bit.

Citizen participation remains a veritable tool in helping make our communities a better place and leaving our world a better place than we met it.

Victor Hugo once remarked:“You can resist an invading army; you cannot resist an idea whose time has come”.

BudgIT – an idea conceptualized and hacked at a Tech-In-Governance event put together by CCHub in March 2011, seized the moment to help citizens who had justifiably become distrustful of successive governments gain better understanding of the budget.

BudgIT used a non-conventional approach of tweets, infographics and a web platform that sought to visually  and emotionally engage Nigerians in understanding budgetary allocations. Presenting the budgets in visually  appealing formats helped a great deal in aiding understanding in how budgets worked.

The Occupy Nigeria protests in January 2012- the response of the people to the removal of subsidy on PMS also provided BudgIT an avenue to employ its creativity. This resulted in the creation of the Budget Cut App. Its ingenuous approach was to engage people to use a web-based tool to suggest sectors of the economy that could do with less budgetary allocations than the government had allocated.

For its work, BudgIT has gained for itself a pride of place, increased sustained interest and helped engage citizens in taking greater interest in the business of governance and the administration of our collective wealth.

The beautiful work carried out by BudgIT is captured at www.yourbudgit.com.