Micro finance institution enters partnership with telecom companies to digitalize banking

 

By Monitor Reporter 

A teller attends to a customer in a bank. The Microfinance centre is charged with the responsibility of providing micro credit and business development services to cooperatives, microfinance institutions and small and medium enterprises. FILE PHOTO  

Pride Micro finance has digitalized mobile phone banking, an innovation that will see the microfinance institution customers do their banking transactions using mobile phones as opposed to visiting the bank.

The new product dubbed the Pride Mobile will enable the bank’s customers to do a variety of transactions including balance inquiry, buying airtime, inter-account fund transfer, paying for utilities, depositing and withdrawing money from the account onto one's mobile money, transactions

Unveiled recently at the Pride Nakawa branch, the service will also allow the customers to access their money at anytime and anywhere.

"Pride is continuously innovating products and services to improve the lives of people at the base of the financial pyramid, while ensuring financial inclusion for all. Pride Mobile is an innovative product that puts the bank in the hands of our clients,” the head of Pride Micro Finance corporate affairs, Mr Deo Kateizi said during the launch.

He continued: “It is convenient, accessible and affordable. This product is set to change the way our customers interact with Pride, while they do their banking, making it easier for them to access our services at their convenience."

To achieve this, the financial institution partnered with two telecom companies, namely MTN and Airtel so as to offer the Push/pull service which enables customers to deposit and withdraw cash from their bank accounts onto their mobile money accounts (mobile Wallets).

Owing to the rapid growth of mobile money in Uganda, such partnerships are quite strategic, making finances more accessible to customers than physical banks. Pride has therefore leveraged on the big distribution and agent network of the mobile network operators to avail its financial services to both the Telecoms and the bank’s customers.

Press statement issued by the banks quotes the MTN Uganda Chief Marketing Officer Ms Mapula Bodibe as saying the partnership with Pride Microfinance is one of the many they have done to deliver convenience to over 10 million customers on the MTN network.

Mr Mapula said since the launch of the MTN Mobile Money, It has has enjoyed unprecedented success, registering in excess of 30million transactions each month with more than seven million customers active on Mobile Money.

He said: "Our customers have continued replacing their cash transactions by using MTN Mobile Money services. This has become a payment mechanism for goods/services. Overall figures indicate that more than 85per cent of the mobile bill payment collections in Uganda are made through the MTN Mobile Money platform.”

He continued: “Integration with other financial services will ensure the continued growth of the Mobile Money service which has become part of the day to day lives of Ugandans."

Commenting in a press statement, the Airtel Managing Director, Mr Tom Gutjahr, said such innovation brings the much needed relief to business owners and organizations in Uganda.

Utility
Pride Microfinance Limited (MDI) (Pride) is the leading Microfinance Deposit-taking Institution in Uganda, whose operations are regulated and supervised bv Bank of Uganda, under the Microfinance Deposit Taking Institutions Act, 2003 and Microfinance Deposit-taking Institutions Regulations 2004.

Pride secured its MDI License from BOU on 30th June, 2005. Pride is wholly owned by the Government of Uganda.

Pride mainly caters for the micro and small entrepreneurs and is therefore continuously developing new products and services to cater for their needs.