Monitise, a developer of mobile banking ecosystem, and Made in Africa have signed an East African joint venture agreement and confirmed that their mobile money service will be launched in Uganda during the autumn of 2009.
The service will be launched initially in Uganda, followed by Rwanda, Tanzania, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya and Zambia.
Monitise said that the venture will create a mobile money ‘ecosystem’ across the region, by bringing together multiple banks, mobile operators and service providers to deliver services that meet the needs of all consumers, both banked and unbanked, while still giving them choice of mobile operator and financial provider.
Monitise also said that services will include account management, money transfers to other people and payments to merchants or service providers. Customers of participating financial institutions will be able to manage their accounts and make payments directly from their mobile phone. For the consumers across the region without a bank account, Monitise East Africa, through its partnership with E-Fulusi Africa, will allow them to set up stored value accounts in which they can hold funds and control using their mobile handset.
Chris Cleverly, director and founder of Made in Africa, said: I am absolutely delighted that we can confirm the launch of the Monitise East Africa service later 2009. Monitise’s mobile money services in the UK and North America have already demonstrated that the ecosystem model has the potential to bring together banks, operators and service providers to roll out a service that benefits the mass-market of consumers.
