The Covid -19 Pandemic indeed has impacted in no small measure on humanity. Many say, with has come both the bad and ugly and as well a great measure of some good opening new opportunities in technology as well as the financial sector, The fact that COVID-19 pandemic has helped accelerate the adoption of mobile financial services across all sectors of the Nigeria economy is no overstatement.
In recent times indeed, the African continent has witnessed an unprecedented surge in small businesses positioning themselves as operators in the finaicial sector. For many, bringing with it the age old savings culture of a trickle at a time.
Not long ago, Johannesburg-based telco, the parent company of MTN Nigeria, recently launched its MOMO service which is focused mainly on reaching the unbanked populace in Nigeria and elsewhere. A statement made available by the company, noted that cashless transfers have been among the best methods for curtailing the spread of the virus. Perhaps explains why a lot of people in Africa now rely on it.
MTN Group’s executive director in charge of mobile money services, Serigne Dioum, was quoted to have said:
“As many countries adopt partial or total lockdowns, we witnessed an evolution in the type and volume of Mobile Money transactions. These changes, triggered by COVID-19, have enabled the acceleration and scaling of cashless and digital economies. They support our ambition to transition to an end-to-end platform, creating a digital marketplace and connecting consumers to businesses, and businesses to businesses.’’
This no doubt provides huge opportunities to change the outlook for affordable, inclusive, understandable and comprehensive financial services not just in Nigeria, but within and outside Africa.
Firstmonie services perhaps is one of the best agent banking platforms in the country powered by Firstbank. Firstmonie is aimed at bringing financial services closer to the unbanked and underbanked segment of the society by empowering existing businesses within the communities to deliver these services.
Saves customer travel and queue time (relative to alternatives such as the Branch and ATM point).
Firstmonie services no doubt Provides the target market access to relevant products that fit their needs, provides quick access to “Human ATMs” which serve all customer types as well as bank, customers of any bank and the unbanked
Perhaps, if there was any lesson that comes as a take home from the COVID-19 Pandemic, it is the need to develop a good savings culture as it brought with it for many, not just the ‘rains’, but the ‘storms’ itself.
With mobile financial services such as the FirstMonie Agent Banking, many (the banked and unbanked) now have the opportunity to open new accounts with zero account balance.
A savings account is an interest-bearing deposit account held at a bank or other financial institution. Though these accounts typically pay a modest interest rate, their safety and reliability make them a great option for parking cash you want available for short-term needs.
