Tigo partners IFC and The MasterCard
One of Ghana’s telecom companies, Tigo, has entered into a US$2 million advisory services agreement with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group and The MasterCard Foundation to develop and expand mobile and financial services in Ghana.
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The project is part of a partnership for financial inclusion to expand microfinance.
The CEO of Tigo Ghana, Mr Roshi Motman, said, “Together with IFC and The MasterCard Foundation, Tigo Ghana is committed to extending financial inclusion.
Following the five awards Tigo Cash received in 2013, this is a further recognition of our innovative approach to the deployment of mobile financial services and our commitment to continually develop them.”
While mobile phone usage is high in Ghana, access to formal financial services remains low. Only 29 per cent of adults in Ghana have an account at a formal financial institution. Most poor people are left with no choice but to resort to informal, unregulated and often unreliable means of savings, credit and insurance.
At an event in Johannesburg, the Head of Mobile Financial Services at Tigo Ghana, Ms Selorm Adadevoh, said “We are excited about this partnership, especially because the IFC and The MasterCard Foundation teams are bringing immense industry experience to support and help accelerate the growth of Tigo Cash and mobile financial services overall in Ghana”.
The project will run for three years and focus on customer education and acquisition, with IFC providing advisory services on business development, customer profiling and agent network management.
Mr David Crush, Manager, IFC Access to Finance Sub-Saharan Africa, said, “The use of mobile phones and alternative distribution infrastructure represents a huge opportunity to fill the gap in the provision of financial services in Ghana, with significant commercial potential for operators able to build a business model that serves the base of the pyramid efficiently.”
