Page 23 - State-of-the-Industry-2013

Part 1 - mOBile mOney

FOCUS ON MTN

MTN took a diferent approach, focusing its eforts on consolidating its distribution network. In early 2012, MTN decided to
outsource the management of its distribution channel to Top Image, a feld marketing agency with extensive experience in mobile
money (having worked with mobile money providers like Safaricom in Kenya). Developing stronger recruitment criteria for agents,
managing agent performance more closely, and increasing support for agent liquidity, all helped MTN to signifcantly increase its
number of active agents. Very quickly, and without changing the commission structure, agent proftability multiplied four-fold. In
the course of only a few months, agents became more motivated and provided better service to customers at the point of sale. With
over 95% of its agents active on a 30-day basis, MTN Côte d’Ivoire now has one of the highest agent activity rates in the world.

“We started to make great progress in Ivory Coast as soon as we managed to put MTN Mobile Money distribution network in a
virtuous circle, by supporting merchants enough so that they see proftability and growth. Should we put one pillar of the Mobile
Money success in Ivory Coast before the others, it should be distribution as it remains our most important way to interact with our
customers”, Jean-Michel Chanut, CMO MTN Côte d’Ivoire

FOCUS ON MOOV

Moov was the third MNO to launch a mobile money service in Côte d’Ivoire in January 2013. Moov is a subsidiary of Etisalat
Group. While Etisalat had substantial experience in Financial services, Côte d’Ivoire was the frst market were Etisalat Group
subsidiary Moov rolled out Mobile Money service “Flooz”. Capitalizing on Etisalat experience accumulated from its international
markets, as part of go-to-market activities, in Cote d’Ivoire, Etisalat paid special attention to the efcient merchants on-board-
ing and retail level activation activities.

“Of all the markets where we operate in West Africa, Côte d’Ivoire has demonstrated to be a very promising market for mobile
money opportunities. There was a clear need for digitizing consumer fnance services. Realizing the wealth of experience Etisalat
Group gained from launching mCommerce oferings in other markets, we have decided to focus on SMEs and enterprise custom-
ers by developing the acceptance ecosystem ” - Khalifa Al Shamsi, Chief Digital Services Ofcer at Etisalat Group.

* Written by Claire Pénicaud (MMU)
1. On a 90-day basis
2. GSMA Intelligence
3. Mobile Money Sprinters are the fastest growing mobile money services in the world as revealed by the 2012 GSMA Mobile Money Adoption Survey
4. WorldBank
5. IFC. http://www.ifc.org/wps/wcm/connect/2de255804ef863c8ac1bef3eac88a2f8/MobileMoneyScoping_CI_ENG.pdf?MOD=AJPERES
6. MMU Intelligence
7. “The State of Financial Inclusion in Ivory Coast in the Aftermath of the Crisis”, Microfnance Information Exchange (December 2013). Available at
http://www.themix.org/publications/mix-microfnance-world/2013/12/state-fnancial-inclusion-ivory-coast-aftermath-crisis
8. “Ivory Coast’s Gbagbo seizes 4 international banks”, Bloomberg (18 February 2011). Available at http://www.businessweek.com/ap/fnancialnews/D9LF3DU80.htm

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