The Viable Alternative of Mobile Payments

An important part of the transformation of the African markets into more productive and effective systems is the upgrading of technology throughout the economy. In addition to serving as a mechanism through which to promote productivity, gains in technology will allow the African economy to engage in more “sophisticated economic activities” like a more robust financial services industry and increase banking levels throughout the

. Mobile services not only offer a new, convenient channel for existing customers of banks, the technology will also provide access to 3 Bnstrong global unbanked population

According to the GMSA, approximately 255 mobile money services were operating across 89 countries in 2014. Sub-Saharan Africa is the region where mobile money services are most widely adopted, followed by Southeast Asia and Latin America. By enabling users to transfer money to each other and make payments directly to businesses and service providers, M-Pesa cuts down on corruption by reducing the need to operate in a cash-only economy. As a result, M-Pesa empowers individuals and supports entrepreneurial creativity in a less constrained financial marketplace. M-Pesa has proven that mobile payments can work in Africa, and other developing regions of the

Africa is the second largest continent and to its advantage has an abundance of natural resources richer than any other continent (Africa: Why the Richest Continent Is Also the Poorest, 2008). Despite Africa’s great platform for a thriving economy, in 2001 The Economist declared Africa as a hopeless continent troubled by harsh poverty and underdevelopment (Africa: Open for Business, 2012). Regardless of the doubt felt over Africa, the continent has unexpectedly survived contractions in the global economy. Since the last commodity boom in 2001, Africa has managed to generate a higher economic growth rate than the global economy and its economy is predicted to increase to 5%-6% in 2015 (Macroeconomic Prospects, 2015). These promising statistics as well as Africa’s resiliency have made it a continent of interest to many companies, businesses and venture capitalist. South African businesses have been enticed to expand from their saturated markets to new African territories, so as to be the first to take

Kenya is the regional leader in East Africa and this position is expected to be a constant over time. The economy is fairly diversified with a strong and well developed services sector. The financial services industry in particular is well developed and established, moreso the country is considered East and Central Africa’s hub for financial services.

There had been a lot of improvements in the field of payments at stores and through Internet. New innovative systems have achieved a high level of use and they have become very helpful for consumers in their daily lives. Appendix 1 outlines the framework of factors impacting the mobile payment services market (Dahlberg et al., 2008).

The advent of the internet-connected smartphone has opened up a whole new world for the consuming public as they now have access to the world of ecommerce in the palms of their hands. As more personal data became transferred to these mini computers, the competing interests of more intrusive applications continue to clash with the need for greater security and data integrity. One of these areas of conflict has been in the field of mobile payments where there has been the desire to use the personal financial information stored on a smartphone to conduct business transactions in a convenient yet secure manner. Recently, technological advancements

In recent years, the telecommunication and film industry have grown to become a major part of Nigeria’s economy (FinIntell, 2014).

Nigeria's economy is estimated to be worth about $262bn, making it one of the largest economies in Africa. The estimates and analysis of various indicators is discussed in the later sections. The country has

Mobile payments are becoming an upcoming new trend when it comes to technology. Mobile payments allow its users to pay for their daily needs with their phone without having to carry cash, let alone, their wallets around. However, the United States has been delaying the adaptation of mobile payments due to the fact that many different retailers have developed their own form of mobile payments as opposed to a universal approach. While many countries in Europe and Asia have successfully adopted mobile payments, United States still are behind in the trend.

After multiple attempts, I succeeded in making contact with the Special Assistant to the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications commission, Mr Edoyemi Ogoh. However, he seemed quite busy, and could not give me much time, but we were able to have a brief discussion on the factors, from the regulatory point of view, impacting the growth of mobile money in Nigeria. He was of the opinion that the bank-led model for providing mobile financial services in Nigeria, as opposed to the operator-led model could be

Banks and Mobile technology companies are contending for a part of the portable payment, and they face some challenges because of the lack of an agreement on the Mobile payment architecture. There is customer demand for mobile and contactless payments, but some banks and Mobile companies that want to decide the mobile architecture are affecting the consumer’s decision process .

Though issues like “Never thought about it” can be addressed by awareness and marketing the benefits of mobile payment, the others need to be worked out with better solutions and implementations. Though Apple Pay has sort of revamped the mobile payment sector, it isn’t the first and only mobile payment option out there. Google Wallet and Paypal, the old contenders, are still going strong and are very much in the game. The competition is tough and add to that the fact that at least 37% of the populace still think cash and card transactions are much easier to deal with. To win their vote, it’s going to have to get real easy and a one click checkout mobile payment option is as easy as it can ever get.

Innovation is a more effective and efficient way of performing tasks. It is not an invention but rather, using a current model and simplifying it to enhance the overall experience of its users. Furthermore, it can eliminate existing problems issues that the users are facing. As there are more than 6 billion mobile subscriptions worldwide, countries all around the world are embracing mobile phone payments. While developed countries are embracing this new technology, as mobile coverage and connectivity rate is high, developed countries are also adopting the practice, as it does not only rely on Internet access.

The way we live today is so much influenced by computing technologies. Computers control the economy, transportation, banking and many other functions. Internet and mobile technologies are increasingly being adopted and utilized in the banking industry; this has reshaped the consumption of financial services. Electronic banking is considered a way of delivering banking services through the internet to the consumer at a reduced cost to the banking industry and improved convenience to the customer . However there exists a low internet connectivity in the developing countries given the costs of connection especially in rural areas and yet banking services need to be brought closer to the population to enhance development . A viable solution here is mobile banking. Mobile banking is considered as a service that enables users to receive information regarding the status of their accounts, transfer among bank accounts, to facilitate stock trading and direct payment confirmation using mobile devices.