The Managing Director of one of the leading Mobile Money companies in Zambia has commiserated with the various “MOMO booth” business owners that were impacted by the recent cleanup of Lusaka’s Central Business District.
The verbatim of CEO Komba Malukutila instagram read as follows:
The MTN Mobile Money team spent some time in Lusaka CBD this morning post the booth cleanup exercise to further understand how this activity has impacted our agents and indeed customers on the ground. We understand the need for a sanitized and clean Lusaka as it benefits all. To this effect, we are relying on the local authorities to provide guidance on this. We have been actively engaging them to share our concerns and observations. We are also grateful for their audience.
Further to the above, we wish to advise that we remain resolved in providing convenient and secure mobile financial services to our esteemed customers. We have taken note of the concerns of our customers and in the spirit of continuity amidst this exercise, we have put up the following measures:
Engaging shop owners and other retailers in the CBD to;
1. Sign up for MoMoPay so that customers can pay for goods and services without seeing the need to withdraw funds.
2. Sign up as Agents to support deposits and withdraws. We shall soon be publishing a list of retailers in the Lusaka CBD from who our clients can perform mobile money transactions safely, securely and conveniently.
As the authorities are working to resolve the matter, we want to thank all mobile money agents for the role they continue to play in advancing the government’s agenda on Financial Inclusion. The biggest driver for Financial Inclusion in Zambia is the mobile money agent and Zambia currently has over 150,000 mobile money agents.
We assure the agents in Lusaka that we are committed to ensuring that they are assigned a conducive trading environment that guarantees their safety, security and business continuity.
On 11 July 2022, MOMO were left in shock by the decision from authorities to “clean up” the Lusaka streets which inevitably led to their businesses being destroyed.
According to the Lusaka Times website, “Local Government and Urban Development Minister Gary Nkombo said the removal of mobile money booths from the Central Business District of Lusaka was been done to bring sanity in the city”.
However, the recent actions by authorities happens at a pivotal moment when Zambia’s advances towards a cashless society have reached a key milestone. In his recent article, The Kwacha Arbitrageur states that “According to the Bank of Zambia quarterly payment statistics, total retail payments for 1Q22 grew 44% to K117.1 billion year on year supported by 49.0% sprint in mobile money (MoMo) transactions to K50.4 billion, 19% growth in electronic funds transfer (ETF) and a 133% rally in point of sale (POS) spike to K24.3 billion”
With this development, Fintech companies will be looking at this development with curious eyes as the next phase of our digital financial migration unfolds whilst finding ways of securing the livelihoods of those who have played an important role in MOMO development.