GSMA gets $9.8m to fund mobile money programme for unbanked

Global mobile phone operators’ body, the GSM Association on May 9, 2012 announced that it has received an additional $9.8 million from three institutions to support its successful Mobile Money for the Unbanked (MMU) programme.

The three institutions are the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The MasterCard Foundation and Omidyar Network.

The funding will span a three-year period to 2015, the GSMA said in statement.

The three main objectives of the MMU programme, according to the Association, are to support mobile network operators (MNOs) to identify, create and share best practices around how to scale mobile money deployments that sustainably serve unbanked clients; evaluate and promote mechanisms for harnessing economies of scale across the mobile money ecosystem; and equip mobile operators to successfully advocate for and shape regulatory environments that enable them to sustainably contribute to financial inclusion.

By Ekow Quandzie