VODACOM is extending its service of making money easily available to all communities.
M-pesa, which was initially aimed at rural communities when it was first rolled out, will now be accessible to more people.
Mark Taylor, managing executive of M-pesa at Vodacom, said they had learnt many lessons since the launch of the product in September last year.
"When we launched, we focused on the lower end of the market. There has been a lot of learning from it. One of them is that M-pesa is a product for everyone.
"We are shifting focus on the sender. M-pesa is a product which you can use for your staff and your kids. There is no reason why we cannot focus on the higher end of the market," he said.
Taylor was speaking at a business breakfast at Vodacom's head offices in Midrand on Friday.
He said the company was engaging various retailers in order to allow M-pesa account holders to buy goods from them.
M-pesa allows cellphone users to send money to other cellphone subscribers who can then withdraw the cash from any Nedbank ATM countrywide. It allows you to send up to R5000 a day to any cellphone network.
"It addresses the needs of both banked and the unbanked. This means I can go shopping with just the cellphone, with no wallet."
Taylor said there were pilot projects at university on using students as M-pesa agents, enabling parents to send money to their children on the go.
He conceded that the other challenge was the retraining of staff in the 3000 M-pesa outlets across the country to ensure that customers are serviced efficiently.
As at the end of April, R42million worth of transactions had gone through M-pesa.
M-pesa on the roll again after its initial success
VODACOM is extending its service of making money easily available to all communities.
M-pesa, which was initially aimed at rural communities when it was first rolled out, will now be accessible to more people.
Mark Taylor, managing executive of M-pesa at Vodacom, said they had learnt many lessons since the launch of the product in September last year.
"When we launched, we focused on the lower end of the market. There has been a lot of learning from it. One of them is that M-pesa is a product for everyone.
"We are shifting focus on the sender. M-pesa is a product which you can use for your staff and your kids. There is no reason why we cannot focus on the higher end of the market," he said.
Taylor was speaking at a business breakfast at Vodacom's head offices in Midrand on Friday.
He said the company was engaging various retailers in order to allow M-pesa account holders to buy goods from them.
M-pesa allows cellphone users to send money to other cellphone subscribers who can then withdraw the cash from any Nedbank ATM countrywide. It allows you to send up to R5000 a day to any cellphone network.
"It addresses the needs of both banked and the unbanked. This means I can go shopping with just the cellphone, with no wallet."
Taylor said there were pilot projects at university on using students as M-pesa agents, enabling parents to send money to their children on the go.
He conceded that the other challenge was the retraining of staff in the 3000 M-pesa outlets across the country to ensure that customers are serviced efficiently.
As at the end of April, R42million worth of transactions had gone through M-pesa.
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