Mobile Money as an Enabler for Entrepreneurship: Case Eastern Africa

Over the last 10 years, availability of mobile phones has increased dramatically, especially in the developing markets. At the same time, majority of the population living in developing countries are still lacking the access to official financial services. This gap has enabled an opportunity to mobile network operators and financial service providers to introduce mobile money transfer services that are addressing this need. In developed countries, many attempts have been made to introduce mobile payment into the lives of people, however, the most successful efforts to create sustainable ecosystems operating with mobile money has taken place in few developed countries. This thesis work is studying what is mobile payment, the success factors of the most successful mobile money implementation M-PESA in Kenya and making the comparison to competing systems. In addition, the impact and importance of mobile money services is studied for businesses using the service, as well as what type of customer base is using the mobile money. Finally, a review is conducted over the recent and emerging business opportunities enabled by the mobile money, and innovations around it. The study is based on literature reviews, empirical experience-based analysis, and quantitative analysis of business and consumer survey data from World Bank. M-PESA is a combination of well-planned and implemented product innovation, which is useful for both consumers and businesses. The service is easy to use, bringing solution to rural areas access to finance, and branded successfully. Businesses are reporting that the most important factors for using mobile money are the speed and low cost of the financial transactions, while barriers for using it are mostly the regulation limits of the transaction value. Typically businesses utilizing mobile money are using the service in addition to their other payment options. Customer base using the service come from all income and education levels, however, people with higher income and education, are more likely to use the service. Businesses enabled by the mobile money service are typically integration services for merchants and facilities starting to use mobile money, financial service providers with new distribution channel of money, or product innovators that utilize mobile money as a principal operating mechanism.