Page 8 - Connected Women
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GSMA MOBILE MONEY FOR THE UNBANKED & CONNECTED WOMEN REACHING HALF OF THE MARKET: WOMEN AND MOBILE MONEY
Insight 3: A helpful and trusted agent network draws long-term female customers
Several of the mobile money operators pointed out that women usually require
more interactions with agents than men before they feel comfortable using “Women usually require 5 to 10
the service. Female customers tend to be more risk averse than men and take interactions on average compared to 3 to
more time to trust the mobile money service. Women are also more inclined to 5 for men before they are confident to use
seek help from agents more often than men do. Building a network of helpful, the service and initiate transactions.”
trustworthy, and patient agents can help operators address these challenges. – Tigo Ghana
The fact that women need more interactions to feel comfortable using the
mobile money service should not deter operators from investing resources in building women’s trust and confidence in the service. In
fact, several studies have shown that once women are familiar with a service and are comfortable using it, they tend to be more loyal
14
customers than men, which yields long-term commercial benefits for the operator.
Insight 4: Including financial education in BTL activities attracts new customers, especially women
While below-the-line (BTL) activities are key elements of any successful approach to educating customers, this seems particularly true
for operators that want to reach women. Interviews with mobile money operators revealed that including financial education in BTL
activities was an efficient way to attract new customers to the service, especially women. Women not only tend to require more in-
person interactions to feel comfortable using the service, but they also tend to have lower financial education levels than men. Including
financial education in BTL activities can be a powerful way to bring more women to the service.
In Papua New Guinea, Nationwide Microbank (NMB) has been delivering financial training to potential new customers and this has
helped them to significantly increase their active customer rates. NMB’s BTL activities include the delivery of financial training in rural
villages and plantations to educate women about financial services. At the end of the training, women are provided with a MiCash
mobile money account. While this training has a cost, benefits are two-fold: first, it helps NMB to register more customers; second, active
customer rates are higher because the majority of people who register in the service will have received some training. In fact, over 90%
of MiCash accounts are active on a monthly basis, which is significantly higher than the global average of 30 percent. 15
Insight 5: Good quality female agents can help drive women’s uptake of mobile money
Managing agent quality is essential to the success of any mobile money distribution network. However, good quality female agents can
be particularly strong assets for a provider seeking to attract women to its service and drive uptake. Nine of the 10 operators interviewed
recognised that female agents tend to attract more female customers than men. This is especially true in countries where cultural and social
norms make it difficult for women to interact with men.
First, female customers may be more comfortable sharing their KYC information with a woman than a man. In Somaliland, agents are
required to take a photo of the customer at the time of registration. A significant number of women in this Muslim region wear the niqāb
and are not willing to remove their veil in front of a man. The Telesom ZAAD team quickly became aware of this challenge and decided to
hire female staff in their main centres to register new ZAAD female customers. The number of registered women increased quickly, from
17% of the customer base in 2009 (before they hired female staff) to 24% one year later.
Some of the operators also reported that female customers tended to trust female agents more than male agents. Tigo Ghana shared
anecdotes of female customers being harassed by male agents who used their mobile phone number unprofessionally. Its female customers
also worried that male agents would violate their privacy and inform their husbands about the frequency and amounts of transactions. Tigo
Ghana believes the first interaction women have with the service is key to establishing trust. This is why it wanted its roving education teams
to be made up of 50% women — much higher than the percentage for their regular fixed agents (35% of whom are women).
14. Valentyna Melnyk, Stijn M.J. van Osselaer, and Tammo H.A. Bijmolt, July 2009, “Are Women More Loyal Customers Than Men? Gender Differences in Loyalty to Firms and Individual Service Providers”, Journal of Marketing, 73
(4), https://archive.ama.org/archive/AboutAMA/Pages/AMA%20Publications/ AMA%20Journals/Journal%20of%20Marketing/TOCs/SUM_2009.4/Are_Women_More_Loyal_Customers.aspx.
15. GSMA Mobile Money Intelligence
8
Insight 3: A helpful and trusted agent network draws long-term female customers
Several of the mobile money operators pointed out that women usually require
more interactions with agents than men before they feel comfortable using “Women usually require 5 to 10
the service. Female customers tend to be more risk averse than men and take interactions on average compared to 3 to
more time to trust the mobile money service. Women are also more inclined to 5 for men before they are confident to use
seek help from agents more often than men do. Building a network of helpful, the service and initiate transactions.”
trustworthy, and patient agents can help operators address these challenges. – Tigo Ghana
The fact that women need more interactions to feel comfortable using the
mobile money service should not deter operators from investing resources in building women’s trust and confidence in the service. In
fact, several studies have shown that once women are familiar with a service and are comfortable using it, they tend to be more loyal
14
customers than men, which yields long-term commercial benefits for the operator.
Insight 4: Including financial education in BTL activities attracts new customers, especially women
While below-the-line (BTL) activities are key elements of any successful approach to educating customers, this seems particularly true
for operators that want to reach women. Interviews with mobile money operators revealed that including financial education in BTL
activities was an efficient way to attract new customers to the service, especially women. Women not only tend to require more in-
person interactions to feel comfortable using the service, but they also tend to have lower financial education levels than men. Including
financial education in BTL activities can be a powerful way to bring more women to the service.
In Papua New Guinea, Nationwide Microbank (NMB) has been delivering financial training to potential new customers and this has
helped them to significantly increase their active customer rates. NMB’s BTL activities include the delivery of financial training in rural
villages and plantations to educate women about financial services. At the end of the training, women are provided with a MiCash
mobile money account. While this training has a cost, benefits are two-fold: first, it helps NMB to register more customers; second, active
customer rates are higher because the majority of people who register in the service will have received some training. In fact, over 90%
of MiCash accounts are active on a monthly basis, which is significantly higher than the global average of 30 percent. 15
Insight 5: Good quality female agents can help drive women’s uptake of mobile money
Managing agent quality is essential to the success of any mobile money distribution network. However, good quality female agents can
be particularly strong assets for a provider seeking to attract women to its service and drive uptake. Nine of the 10 operators interviewed
recognised that female agents tend to attract more female customers than men. This is especially true in countries where cultural and social
norms make it difficult for women to interact with men.
First, female customers may be more comfortable sharing their KYC information with a woman than a man. In Somaliland, agents are
required to take a photo of the customer at the time of registration. A significant number of women in this Muslim region wear the niqāb
and are not willing to remove their veil in front of a man. The Telesom ZAAD team quickly became aware of this challenge and decided to
hire female staff in their main centres to register new ZAAD female customers. The number of registered women increased quickly, from
17% of the customer base in 2009 (before they hired female staff) to 24% one year later.
Some of the operators also reported that female customers tended to trust female agents more than male agents. Tigo Ghana shared
anecdotes of female customers being harassed by male agents who used their mobile phone number unprofessionally. Its female customers
also worried that male agents would violate their privacy and inform their husbands about the frequency and amounts of transactions. Tigo
Ghana believes the first interaction women have with the service is key to establishing trust. This is why it wanted its roving education teams
to be made up of 50% women — much higher than the percentage for their regular fixed agents (35% of whom are women).
14. Valentyna Melnyk, Stijn M.J. van Osselaer, and Tammo H.A. Bijmolt, July 2009, “Are Women More Loyal Customers Than Men? Gender Differences in Loyalty to Firms and Individual Service Providers”, Journal of Marketing, 73
(4), https://archive.ama.org/archive/AboutAMA/Pages/AMA%20Publications/ AMA%20Journals/Journal%20of%20Marketing/TOCs/SUM_2009.4/Are_Women_More_Loyal_Customers.aspx.
15. GSMA Mobile Money Intelligence
8
