VAS for MobileMoney

Catalyzing MobileMoney Uptake from 1st Principles

The Nigerian case

Discussion Roadmap

• MobileMoney (MM) in Nigeria today

• Why is Nigerian MM uptake not yet fantastic?

• What is VAS/mVAS?

• Transiting from the Known to the Unknown: useful data

on the potency of VAS as a door-opener

• Harnessing the Govt-telco-private sector opportunity

• Next steps

• Mobile payment uptake numbers are still low for a

2011-launched service that had so much promise

• MMOs have not broken the cash-culture inertia

• But, Nigerians already pay for services via voluntarily

digitized money (user-initiated VAS)...since GSM launch in

2001

• Some encouraging figures of e-commerce, m-

commerce & presently live portals indicate an appetite (jumia, konga, linda-ekeji blog, nairaland, eskimi & alexa data)

• A key challenge is how to intelligently & beneficially

transit that crowd to the m-payment eco-system (ask Telcos who planned to transit airtime agents to MM agents)

The Landscape today

• Reasons for low adoption in Nigeria are well documented:

• technology interoperability (NIBBS, MNOs & MMOs)

• Un-abating mass ignorance levels of prospective users

� the trust-understanding-benefit perception cycle hasn’t kicked in

� missing groundswell: Government-Telco-Bank collabo initiatives

• insufficient expertise & pedigree in rollout & agency

approach (e.g. "scanty-menu" syndrome of most rolled out MMOs)

• lack of finance & underestimation of a MM business build (the agent network, then technology and marketing)

• This presentation addresses what we are to start doing now

or could have been doing irrespective…assuming these 4

problems don’t go away

Why the low MM Uptake?

By VAS, we mean..?

• FIRST, THE USUAL SUSPECTS...mVAS TODAY

• Ringtones

• Wallpapers & themes

• Video clips & games

• Caller Ring-back tunes (CRBT) & RRBT

• Text-based subscription & SMS chat services

• OTHER VAS FOR BOTTOM-PYRAMID NIGERIANS

• mEDU (via SMS or apps done right e.g. Nokia Life)

• mHEALTH

• mAGRIC

• mRELIGION

• Revenue collection

• As well as the usual suspects listed above, intelligently customized to be really need-filling services

Mostly entertainment

Higher-value, “closer-to-you”

services

• Let’s crunch these numbers..

• Russia: 14% of gross MNO inflow in Q1 2007, hit 20% in 2012

• Ireland: 30% of gross MNO inflow 2008, hit 35% in 2012

• Ghana: 20% of gross MNO inflow (a specific MNO)

• Nigeria: ??? Not with the NCC…ask WASPAN

- Assuming Nigeria today hits 10% of MNO gross, that translates

to a potential 11 million Nigerians using MobileMoney

- Operators reluctant to make it happen, but some other factors

coming together as we speak will shift the goalpost

• This is not about transaction volumes, because what

people want to buy remains fairly constant in this context.

• This refers to actual Nigerian citizens regularly using MobileMoney because it’s trusted, easier to use, has a

stable eco-system, connotes safety, savings and profits.

How much can VAS drive MM uptake?

* MNO: Mobile network operator

1. M-AGRIC: Government’s present build of an accountability

infrastructure for Nigeria’s greatest GDP-contributing

industry is driven by mobile: an opening for a visionary MMO

2. Apart from all other issues before them, if the NCC and IT

Ministry applied the real interpretation of “local content

protection” to the Nigerian telecoms space, VAS &

MobileMoney will move off at full throttle

3. Well thought-out Govt-Bank-telco initiatives open MM uptake

doors globally in similar markets (cashless Lagos as a push

policy. Pull mechanisms assign power to the user, more sustainable)

4. No University curricula/roadmap for VAS & MobileMoney

Initiatives for Government to drive

• Some MMOs and independents have taken the bull by

the horn to effect change, chaos-irrespective:

• Microleverage

• WASPAN

• Cellulant

• Rervbox

• Accendo Associates…and a host of others

• Initiatives that identify the blue oceans & that nudge the

system to push these recommendations have begun

• Universities are being approached directly, but the

Government needs to embrace the idea and “stamp” it

• VAS providers are seeking better ways to hit 20% of

Operator inflow in 2-3 years’ time

• …the groundswell has begun

Next steps

Desire a copy of this presentation or wish to continue this conversation?

Kindly mail me..

saderinlola@rervbox.com