Mobile Money Provision and Adaptation in a Multicurrency Economy: The Case of Zimbabwe

• Main Author: Nyaruwata, Tinashe
• Other Authors: Kabinga, Mundia
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: University Of Cape Town 2019
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/29939

Mobile money has been regarded as a catalyst for financial inclusion in developing areas where traditional banking is limited. This research provides a critical assessment of the factors that facilitate or impede the provision of mobile money services in a fragile multicurrency economy, in particular, Zimbabwe. It explores how mobile money providers adapt to the fragility of the economy and what needs to be done to broaden mobile money uptake and performance in same environment. The study employs a qualitative and multiple case study approaches to understand mobile money business models in three mobile network operators in Zimbabwe. Research findings revealed that MNOs have developed MNO led approaches which are slowly migrating to collaborative models thereby greatly enhancing financial accessibility for the mass traditionally unbanked. With reference to the first sub question it was established that the multicurrency regime enabled remittance and withdrawals aspects of mobile money in Zimbabwe as during the 2016/2017 cash shortage era high demand in local and international money transfer was backed by the rise of a supportive role from the Central bank and Public Finance authorities. Most people were more favourable to mobile money transfers and banking which offered more control to customers since they negatively viewed traditional finance entities following a series of local bank collapses. On the downside, challenges of obtaining cash in the country that is illiquid reduced agent network and affected the confidence in mobile money deposits and withdrawals as mobile money customers were used to handling cash. In addition the lack of interoperations amongst the service providers significantly affected effective uptake of mobile banking. The research shows that use of collaborative approaches suggest the ability to adapt and adjust a model based on the prevailing conditions and customer needs and wants by MNOs. With reference to the third question it was recognised that mobile money can succeed in a multicurrency ecosystem when a focused and coordinated approach to fundamentals is applied to properly deal with the challenges that come with shifting from a cash economy to a digital ecosystem.