Page 3 - Connected Women
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GSMA MOBILE MONEY FOR THE UNBANKED & CONNECTED WOMEN REACHING HALF OF THE MARKET: WOMEN AND MOBILE MONEY
M obile money has been growing at a dizzying rate over the past few years, with urban men emerging as the early adopters
1
of the services. However, if mobile money operators are to reach scale and impact in their operations, they cannot ignore
women, who make up 50% of their potential market. In this publication, we examine the tactics used by pioneering mobile
2
money operators to increase mobile money penetration amongst women.
This publication is part of a series of deeper insights into selected topics based on the findings of the 2013 State of the Industry Report
on Mobile Financial Services. For the first time in 2013, MMU was able to collect data on the gender of mobile money users through the
3
Global Mobile Money Adoption Survey, which asked mobile money operators to report the gender composition of their customer base.
Semi-guided interviews were then conducted with 10 of the operators that had reported high levels of penetration of their mobile money
service amongst women in emerging markets and/or had implemented successful strategies to drive uptake and usage among women.
SUMMARY
To reach scale and impact in their operations, mobile money operators cannot ignore women, who make up half of the
potential customer base. However, penetration of services within this group remains low and there are many barriers that
keep women from adopting and using these services, such as low levels of literacy and mobile phone ownership. Operators
can use a number of tactics to overcome these gender-specific barriers, particularly changing their approaches to marketing
and distribution. This includes product offerings tailored to the unique financial needs of women; updated marketing
campaigns that women can relate to; and hiring quality female agents who help to build women’s confidence and trust in
mobile money services and turn them into loyal customers.
1. William Jack and Tavneet Suri, 2010, “The Economics of M-PESA”, http://www.mit.edu/~tavneet/M-PESA.pdf.
2. GSMA mWomen Programme, 2012, “Unlocking the Potential: Women and Mobile Financial Services in Emerging Markets”,
http://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/GSMA-mWomen-Visa_Unlocking-the-Potential_Feb-2013.pdf, p. 11.
3. Claire Pénicaud and Arunjay Katakam, 2014, “State of the Industry 2013: Mobile Financial Services”, http://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SOTIR_2013.pdf.
3
M obile money has been growing at a dizzying rate over the past few years, with urban men emerging as the early adopters
1
of the services. However, if mobile money operators are to reach scale and impact in their operations, they cannot ignore
women, who make up 50% of their potential market. In this publication, we examine the tactics used by pioneering mobile
2
money operators to increase mobile money penetration amongst women.
This publication is part of a series of deeper insights into selected topics based on the findings of the 2013 State of the Industry Report
on Mobile Financial Services. For the first time in 2013, MMU was able to collect data on the gender of mobile money users through the
3
Global Mobile Money Adoption Survey, which asked mobile money operators to report the gender composition of their customer base.
Semi-guided interviews were then conducted with 10 of the operators that had reported high levels of penetration of their mobile money
service amongst women in emerging markets and/or had implemented successful strategies to drive uptake and usage among women.
SUMMARY
To reach scale and impact in their operations, mobile money operators cannot ignore women, who make up half of the
potential customer base. However, penetration of services within this group remains low and there are many barriers that
keep women from adopting and using these services, such as low levels of literacy and mobile phone ownership. Operators
can use a number of tactics to overcome these gender-specific barriers, particularly changing their approaches to marketing
and distribution. This includes product offerings tailored to the unique financial needs of women; updated marketing
campaigns that women can relate to; and hiring quality female agents who help to build women’s confidence and trust in
mobile money services and turn them into loyal customers.
1. William Jack and Tavneet Suri, 2010, “The Economics of M-PESA”, http://www.mit.edu/~tavneet/M-PESA.pdf.
2. GSMA mWomen Programme, 2012, “Unlocking the Potential: Women and Mobile Financial Services in Emerging Markets”,
http://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/GSMA-mWomen-Visa_Unlocking-the-Potential_Feb-2013.pdf, p. 11.
3. Claire Pénicaud and Arunjay Katakam, 2014, “State of the Industry 2013: Mobile Financial Services”, http://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/SOTIR_2013.pdf.
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