Huawei Mobile Money advances financial inclusion for all

Tuesday, 8 August 2023 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Kenyans are using mobile payments services

Huawei has announced it is committed to working with its global partners to promote financial inclusion and improve lives by bringing equal, effective, comprehensive, and convenient digital financial products and services to every person and organisation.

Huawei Mobile Money is part of Huawei’s efforts to bridge the digital divide through mobile communications technologies and digital payment platforms.

This solution aims to give unbanked people access to affordable and reliable financial services such as deposits and withdrawals, utility payments, remittances, mobile payments, loans, insurance, and savings management. These services are particularly impactful for low-income and remote communities that lack access to traditional financial services.

Huawei Mobile Money is also geared towards empowering micro-, small-, and medium sized enterprises.

In the 2022 Sustainability Report published by Huawei said by the end of 2022, Huawei Mobile Money had benefited more than 400 million people in over 20 developing countries, such as Kenya, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Tanzania, advancing financial inclusion. Ethiopia was listed as one of Africa’s “sleeping giants” in GSMA’s 2018 State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money, because at that time, it was one of the few African countries where there was no mobile money service.

In 2021, Huawei and Ethio Telecom jointly launched TeleBirr, a financial inclusion service, in Ethiopia. By December 2022, TeleBirr had attracted 101 super-agents, 97,000 agents, and 24,000 merchants, directly and indirectly creating more than 180,000 jobs in Ethiopia. Over 30% of these agents and merchants are women, highlighting how the service can promote gender equality in employment and help improve women’s status in the country.

TeleBirr also partners with a number of multinational remittance companies to reduce the cost of international remittances. This has made cross-border remittances from Ethiopians living overseas to their family members and friends in Ethiopia more convenient and affordable.

TeleBirr is now an official e-government payment channel in Ethiopia. It provides simplified processes for the local government to grant subsidies to eligible users, so that users can receive the subsidies quickly.