Visualizing M-commerce In Sub-Saharan Africa

17 December 2013
Content from a Premium Partner
Ericsson (Stockholm)
press release

When developing m-commerce services for different regions, it is important to look from both the macro and the micro levels. We have Ericsson m-commerce team members doing fieldwork in Asia, Latin America, Oceania and Sub-Saharan Africa and also attending industry events worldwide. When we are not traveling, we use a variety of tools to gain a better understanding of our subject – in an attempt to make our products and services as relevant as possible.

I recently came across some interesting visualization tools and the penetration of various financial services in Sub-Saharan Africa, which I am sure will be of interest to the readers of the this blog:

1. Financial Services in Nigeria. The first comes via Wired, which ran an article about the Gates Foundation's Financial Services for the Poor program. The foundation carried out a three-month project in Nigeria to pinpoint all the financial services available in the country as a way of better understanding where help is needed and where consumers can be better served. According to the article, "the Gates team has already mapped Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, and Bangladesh, with India and Indonesia coming soon".

2. Access to financial services – via bank branches, agents, or other – is mapped here by FSP. Information collected from extensive research in Nigeria, Pakistan, Tanzania and Uganda is categorized into important factors such as "Access to Mobile Money Agents" or "Access to Bank Branches, ATMs, MFIs, MFBs, SACCOs or Motor Parks" are listed with 5/10/15 Km buffers. This kind of deep investigative study will provide indispensable for telecom operators exploring ways to expand their businesses by looking at way to benefit the entire value chain.

3. Africa Telecom Market 2013 Report provides some really valuable insights into the telecommunications industry in the region. For example, mobile phone penetration across the continent is now at around 80% while smartphone penetration stands at around 20%. This is important data that needs to be taken into account when planning to launch mobile financial services.

These are just some of the myriad tools available online that offer the telecom industry untold insights into access to financial services in some of the poorest areas of the world. It is this kind of information that can enable telcos drive m-commerce in emerging markets by identifying opportunities that create value for consumers and a positive effect in reducing poverty.

I hope you find this selection of vizualisation tools useful. Share you thoughts about them below and tell me about any others you use.

Lisa Elénius: Marketing Manager, M-commerce, Ericsson. Lisa joined Ericsson in 2013 and has been working in the telecom industry for over a decade. She has participated in launching mobile wallet services and mobile payment collaborations in three different markets in the Nordics. She is passionate about telecom and hopes that one day everything she now carries around in her purse will be on her mobile, except possibly for her make-up.

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