From the twelfth floor of a tower block with beautiful views over Accra, Bruno Akpaka is overseeing the roll out of MTN Mobile Money in Ghana. There is a buzz about the office, and there appear to be far more people than the team of six that Bruno claims make up his team. When I ask him about this, Bruno explains that more than two-thirds of the staff on the floor are employed by the partner banks that run the back office functions. Spending some time with Bruno unveiled that this is not the only thing that is different about Mobile Money. There are three main differences to other models around the world which are worth exploring.

1.    MTN has teamed up with not one, but nine different banks – and others are knocking on the door. The Bank of Ghana (the central bank) has issued guidelines which require that branchless banking initiatives must be bank based to protect the consumer.  Mobile network operators (MNOs) must partner with a minimum of three banks who in turn recruit merchants (where cash-in and cash-out take place). Bruno has taken this even further and signed up nine banks and is in advanced discussions with a tenth. This may prove to be a shrewd business move in ensuring that MTN retains control over pricing (at the moment MTN is the only operator in Ghana that has launched a mobile banking solution). The banks confirm the KYC requirements, expand their networks by enrolling the Merchants,  get access to the float that backs the electronic value issued, and from right outside Bruno’s office they ensure that the accounts are settled every evening. But Bruno has ensured that MTN controls the transaction charges from sending money or cashing-out and decides what commission will be paid to the Merchants for transactions they perform.

2.    Customer sign-up is done anywhere that customers can be found. A network of foot-soldiers  has all the right incentives to go and find prospective customers at their homes, at work or anywhere they are likely to have their ID with them. Bruno makes this even easier by offering 2 Ghanaian Cedis (US$1.40) of free credit (which can be easily used to buy airtime) to customers of any network who signs up for the service. In a process that should take around 10 to 15 minutes the details of the customer are checked and their ID (passport, driving license or voter’s ID) is photographed using a camera phone. Their address book is copied from their existing SIM card and they are ready to go. An expensive sign up strategy resulting from strict regulation, maybe, but 165,000 customers are now using the service after less than 6 months from the launch date.

3.    They have built a completely independent network of cash-in/cash-out agents. Because their airtime distributors were reluctant to take an active part in Mobile Money roll out, MTN Ghana  decided at the time not to use those dealers to form their core Mobile Money Merchants network (unlike many other MNOs who see this as part of their competitive advantage). So far, MTN has signed up 2,400 Merchants, very few of whom come from their regular airtime distribution network which has over 200,000 points of presence in Ghana. But this gives MTN greater control over the roll out of  the service. Banks  compete to sign up agents so that they can get a bigger float and offer their own services through the Merchants.

It’s early days for MTN Mobile Money, but they have first-mover advantage and by far the largest market share of customers in Ghana. If their model looks like it will take off over the next year then other operators, in Ghana and beyond, will want to take note of some of these unique characteristics.

-Chris Bold