Thanks MM - very insightful presentation! When I reached Slide 5 ("The value proposition ….cake big enough for all") I held my breath hoping Slide 6 would be "Cont...The value proposition ….cake big enough for all"...to see whether the M-Pesa agents would feature somewhere and get a slice of the cake :-), but alas... Thanks F On 8 September 2010 16:45, muriuki mureithi <mureithi@summitstrategies.co.ke
wrote:
Hi Sir
I admire your thought provoking write ups
See a research we did on the whole mobile money transfer space . will send you a copy of published paper once done
Cheers
*From:* kictanet-bounces+mureithi=summitstrategies.co.ke@ lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+mureithi<kictanet-bounces%2Bmureithi> =summitstrategies.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke] *On Behalf Of * Francis.Hook@gmail.com *Sent:* 08 September 2010 15:32 *To:* mureithi@summitstrategies.co.ke *Cc:* KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions *Subject:* [kictanet] Might M-Kesho sound the death knell for (some) M-Pesa Agents?
1 - Equity Bank has abt 4.5 million customers. 2 - Lets wager that abt 70-80% are Safaricom subscribers...(3.15 - 3.6 million) and possibly 80% of those use M-Pesa (wild guess) 3 - A Study conducted in late 2009 ( http://technology.cgap.org/2009/09/08/understanding-what-drives-profits-for-...) examined the factors that make an M-Pesa agent make a profit...as well as the challenges faced by such agents (which would most times lead them to say "hakuna float"). 4 - As M-Pesa agents have become more pervasive, their profit margins have become thinner owing to competition (incl ATMs, super markets, etc). This is part of the premise of M-Kesho - to allow such agents to make revenue from additional services like insurance... 5 - M-Kesho essentially removes the need to have CASH transactions - either sending or receiving. However, to the operator the transaction fee still accrues, and to the bank, the deposits remain somewhat stable. If anything, for corporate users of M-Pesa (KQ, KPLC, etc) they can know have their accounts credited directly - no need to use an M-Pesa agent to load cash onto phone and then pay KPLC, Kenya Airways, etc. 6 - Thinking of the three or so million Equity Bank Customers who are M-Pesa users....will they EVER need to use an M-Pesa agent? before the routine to send cash was ...a) draw cash from ATM/Branch b)go to M-Pesa Agent c) send money - and vice versa to receive (go to mpesa agent, get cash, spend/deposit cash) - ergo M-Pesa agent has a role. Of course I admit, such account holders can still withdraw from their accounts using M-Kesho and get cash from an M-Pesa Agent (but I think this would be really really rare).
Will M-Kesho see some rationalisation in the number and size(type) of agents? Admittedly some of the more established agents can evolve into FOSAs for Equity (and other banks), but I think at the grassroots there might be a negative impact.
My two cents...
Francis
-- Francis Hook +254 733 504561