Mobile Money for the Unbanked
Accelerating mobile money services for unbanked markets
The GSMA Development Fund has initiated the Mobile Money for the Unbanked (MMU) programme to accelerate the availability of mobile money services to the unbanked and those living on less than US$2 per day.
Bringing together mobile operators in developing countries, banks, microfinance institutions, governments, development organisations and the private sector, MMU has the goal of reaching 20 million previously unbanked people with mobile financial services by 2012.
MMU Fund
A US$5 million Fund is available over a period of two years to support commercially viable and sustainable mobile operator led projects that accelerate the speed at which mobile money services for the mass market in developing countries are deployed.
The focus of the Fund is upon:
- Supporting commercially viable projects
- Providing a quick response and straight forward grant process
- Ensuring that mobile services are targeted at base of the pyramid customers
- Knowledge sharing
MMU Working Group
The MMU Working Group has been created to stimulate knowledge sharing around mobile money services and will meet quarterly to discuss commercial experiences, workshop challenges identified by the industry and agree solutions. The Working Group is open to members of the GSMA and other interested parties in the mobile money value chain. For more information download MMU Working Group Structure and Participation Criteria. If you are interested in participating in the Working Group, contact mmu@gsm.org.
MMU and Regulation
In order to overcome the regulatory barriers associated with mobile money services, the programme involves a regulatory element that seeks to improve the capacity of mobile operators to address mobile money risks and to improve the dialogue between financial regulators, telecoms regulators and the mobile industry.