Page 9 - Connected Women
P. 9
GSMA MOBILE MONEY FOR THE UNBANKED & CONNECTED WOMEN REACHING HALF OF THE MARKET: WOMEN AND MOBILE MONEY
It can be challenging to hire women as agents, given that women may have lower literacy and numeracy skills than men, and may
have less ability to invest in a service. To attract more female applicants, some operators have developed dedicated recruitment and
training opportunities for women. With support from the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, Tigo launched an initiative in Ghana to
specifically engage women entrepreneurs and support them with loans and small business management training in a mobile money
retail chain. About 350 women agents have benefitted from this initiative, and the Tigo Cash team has noticed an improvement in the
business performance of their female agents.
Conclusion
Women make up half of the mobile money industry’s potential customer base, but penetration of services within this group remains low.
Achieving greater gender equity in the mobile money market and higher levels of mobile money penetration has required operators to
address the various barriers that keep women from adopting and using their services, from low literacy and education to more practical
challenges, such as a lack of identification documents or easy, regular access to a mobile money agent or mobile phone.
The mobile money operators surveyed and interviewed by MMU are responding to these challenges in various ways: with 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.
9
It can be challenging to hire women as agents, given that women may have lower literacy and numeracy skills than men, and may
have less ability to invest in a service. To attract more female applicants, some operators have developed dedicated recruitment and
training opportunities for women. With support from the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, Tigo launched an initiative in Ghana to
specifically engage women entrepreneurs and support them with loans and small business management training in a mobile money
retail chain. About 350 women agents have benefitted from this initiative, and the Tigo Cash team has noticed an improvement in the
business performance of their female agents.
Conclusion
Women make up half of the mobile money industry’s potential customer base, but penetration of services within this group remains low.
Achieving greater gender equity in the mobile money market and higher levels of mobile money penetration has required operators to
address the various barriers that keep women from adopting and using their services, from low literacy and education to more practical
challenges, such as a lack of identification documents or easy, regular access to a mobile money agent or mobile phone.
The mobile money operators surveyed and interviewed by MMU are responding to these challenges in various ways: with 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.
9
