MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Vodafone Launches M-PAiSA Mobile Money Transfer Service in Fiji

Vodafone, a British multinational mobile network operator, has launched M-PAiSA Mobile Money Transfer service in Fiji. Initially M-PAiSA will act mainly as a vehicle for loan disbursements and repayments from microfinance institutions (MFIs), with customers being able to receive loans and make payments using their mobile phones. According to Shalendra Prasad, Vodafone’s corporate affairs manager, “In time to come, people will be able to pay for utilities such as electricity, water or television using the M-PAiSA service.” Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama was quoted as saying, “M-PAiSA will, with the use of mobile phone technology, enable unbanked, non-saving and geographically isolated Fijians to participate in the mainstream financial sector of the country.”

M-PAiSA was inspired by M-Pesa, a Kenyan cellphone-to-cellphone cash-transfer service launched in early 2007. M-Pesa now has approximately 7 million subscribers.

By Conner Brannen, Research Assistant

About M-Pesa:

M-Pesa is a Kenyan cellphone-to-cellphone cash-transfer service. (The M is for “mobile” and pesa is “cash” in Swahili.) Launched in 2007 by Safaricom Limited, a Kenya-based cellphone provider, M-PESA was developed by Vodafone Group Private Limited Corporation, a British multinational mobile network operator, as part of their strategy to reach the bottom of the pyramid with new goods and services.

Sources and Additional Resources:

All Headline News: “Fiji Leads Pacific in Mobile Money Transfer,” June 17, 2010: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7019023095

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Gates Foundation, USAID Offer $15m to Initiators of Mobile Money Services in Haiti, June 11, 2010: https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-gates-foundation-usaid-offer-15m-to-initiators-of-mobile-money-services-in-haiti/

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Faulu Kenya, a Microfinance Bank Based in Nairobi, Signs Partnership Deal with PesaPoint, a Private Provider of ATM Services, June 11, 2010: https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-faulu-kenya-a-microfinance-bank-based-in-nairobi-signs-partnership-deal-with-pesapoint-a-private-provider-of-atm-services/

MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: One of the Largest Mobile Operators in Kenya, Safaricom, and Equity Bank, a Microfinance Bank, Join Together to Launch Mobile Banking Program, June 2, 2010: https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-one-of-the-largest-mobile-operators-in-kenya-safaricom-and-equity-bank-a-microfinance-bank-join-together-to-launch-mobile-banking-program/

MicroCapital Universe Profile: M-Pesa: https://www.microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/tiki-index.php?page=M-Pesa

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