MTN, CBA celebrate 1 million MoKash customer milestone

October 31, 2016 in Business, Communications, Companies, Financial Services, Technology & Telecoms by Editor

KAMPALA, OCTOBER 31 – MTN Uganda and the Commercial Bank of Africa’s micro-loan product MTN MoKash, has lent out more than Ushs 2.3 billion while subscribers crossed the one million threshold just 70 days after launch.

In a statement released today, MTN revealed that the product had recorded an average subscription rate of 13500 subscriptions per day closing the seventy day period at 1,054,000 subscribers.

More than Ushs 2 billion has been disbursed to customers in loans while deposits topped Ushs 2.3 billion over the same period, surpassing initial projections.

“We have now signed up more than 1,000,000 customers on the MoKash platform,” said Phrase Lubega, MTN Uganda’s General Manager for Mobile Financial Services.

Lubega explained that MoKash’s exponential growth had been made possible by the easy-to-use menu, low deposit threshold, and MTN’s robust network of Mobile Money agents.

“The speed at which MoKash is growing demonstrates the gap and indeed opportunities that lie in pursuing a true financial inclusion strategy. MoKash is an affordable, simple and convenient service to use with all transactions being completed in only a matter of seconds,” added Mr. Lubega.

CBA Uganda’s CEO Sam Odeke said MoKash rapid growth reflected the hunger for financial services in Uganda. “MoKash is the first of its kind in this market and the response we have received so far has been overwhelming.  To put this into perspective, at the end of 2015, the entire country had about 5 million bank accounts but today, in a period of two and a half months, MoKash has been able to attract over 1 million customers”.

Launched on August 9, MoKash is a micro-savings and loans product that allows registered MTN Mobile Money users to borrow as much as sh1 million using their phones.

MTN Uganda’s Chief Marketing Officer, Mapula Bodibe expressed appreciation for the customers’ confidence in MTN and for embracing MoKash.

“The rate at which customers are registering for MoKash is testament to the role brands like MTN have come to play in driving easier and more affordable access to savings and credit facilities. We are constantly exploring more meaningful and life changing ways the mobile phone can play in the lives of people and communities,” said Ms. Bodibe.

The average MoKash loan currently stands at UGX. 18,000/= with more than 3,000 MoKash loans a processed every day. Because it happens in real time, many customers are using MoKash to get into the habit of saving while loans are accessed for simple emergencies, personal development and business among other reasons.