Last week, the Communications Authority of Kenya released Q1 2016 statistics report for the period between July and September 2015. From the report, 122,343,743 transactions were conducted using mobile money services with the value of transaction standing at 290.6 Billion shillings. Person to person transfers stood at 139 Billion with mobile commerce witnessing a massive surge. 102.4 Billion was used to pay for goods and services in 54 Million transactions. Under the period, mobile money subscriptions stood at 26.7 Million subscriptions a decline of 3.6% from 27.7 million subs while the number of of mobile money agents stood at 141,542 agents a growth from 135,000 agents.
Airtel Kenya’s Airtel Money was ranked in the second position behind Safaricom’s M-Pesa. In a previous quarter, Airtel Money has 3 Million subscribers. Airtel has been keen to increase its outlay in the market for its mobile money proposition through partnerships with banks to allow subscribers push and pull money between their Airtel Money accounts and bank accounts. An interesting problem for Airtel has been mobile money agents. In 2014, the Competition Authority of Kenya ruled that Safaricom should open up its M-pesa agent network to its rivals. Despite such moves, Airtel still did not see a bump in its mobile money uptake.
Airtel Kenya is now looking for proposals for agents to bolster its mobile money agency network through recruitment and management of new agents. The firm is looking for companies with at least 3 years experience managing a distribution network in addition to having ability to raise Kshs 6 Million in capital to manage and recruit new Airtel Money agents. The firm should further demonstrate experience in hiring and training for sales roles. Interested applicants should send their proposals by 26th April.
