BY:
Seven years on, what is it like to be a mobile money agent in Kenya?
June 3rd, 2015
Thursday 19th June, 2014: Findings from a survey of over 2,000 mobile and bank agents carried out in 2013 across Kenya were this morning shared at a well-attended event in Nairobi. These were presented during the official launch of the Agent Network Accelerator (ANA) Kenya country report. The report focuses on the country’s factors for success in agent network management and what the industry needs to focus on in the next stages of development.
In his keynote presentation focusing on proliferation and dominance, MicroSave’s Head of Digital Financial Services Mike McCaffrey highlighted that one of the largest barriers to daily transactions is high proliferation of agents especially in Nairobi. He also noted that even though Kenyan mobile money agents generate the highest transactions in East Africa, they also earn the least from these transactions.
In a follow-up presentation on the findings, Intermedia’s Director of Research and Operations Dr. Anastasia Mirzoyants said that agents across East Africa had cited fraud from customers as a major concern in the operations of their business. Despite facing this challenge, agents are well supported by providers and report regular visits and trainings, especially the ones operating under the bank networks.
For more information on the survey results:
Click to download Mike McCaffrey’s keynote presentation: Status of agents in Kenya
Click to download Anastasia Mirzoyants’ presentation: Customer experience with mobile money agents
