Mobile Financial Services

Inclusion of women unlocks significant growth

The inclusion of women in the mobile internet and mobile financial service (MFS) business can create an estimated market opportunity of USD 170 billion for the mobile industry by 2020, says a study by the GSM Association (GSMA).

In low- and middle-income countries, a significant gender gap exists in mobile phone ownership and usage. Of course, this is hindering the growth of the mobile industry. But it also means that in today’s increasingly connected world, women are being left behind.
To bridge this gap, GSMA has launched the Connected Women programme. It is working with mobile operators and their partners to address the barriers for women to access and use mobile internet and mobile money services.
 
Empowering women 
“Together, we can unlock this market opportunity for the mobile industry, deliver significant socioeconomic benefits, and transform women’s lives. When women thrive, societies, businesses, and economies thrive,” the programme states.
GSMA director-general Anne Bouverot said: “Mobile technology is a powerful tool. It transcends geographies, cultures, and socioeconomic statuses, and offers wide-ranging benefits to women and society. Mobile phones help women feel safer and more connected, save time, and enable access to key services such as mobile money and health information.”
In its research titled ‘Bridging the gender gap: Mobile access and usage in low and middle-income countries’, GSMA found that access to and use of mobile phones help women feel safer, more connected, save time and money, and can increase education and employment opportunities.
Ensuring that women own phones, and ensuring that all women who own phones in low- and middle-income countries increase their usage of phones, could unlock an estimated USD 170 billion market opportunity for the mobile industry by 2020.
Like other countries, Bangladesh is also considering it a top priority, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina recently said at a programme. The PM has also advised experts to enhance cyber security.
 
Digital Training Bus 
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina recently inaugurated the ‘Digital Training Bus Project’ as part of an initiative to connect women with information and communications technology (ICT).
State minister for ICT, Junaid Ahmed Polok, told The Independent that the Digital Training Bus project will be executed over three years. Six buses, equipped with modern ICT training facilities, will be deployed to offer ICT training designed to reach out to women who cannot venture out of their homes or localities due to social restrictions.
ICT Division, Robi Axiata, and Huawei will provide two buses each. These buses will be maintained by Robi and Huawei in collaboration with the ICT Division.
Under this three-year-long project, six buses will be used to provide basic ICT training to 240,000 young and talented women across 64 districts. The project is expected to generate massive interest among women (especially in rural areas) to pursue entrepreneurship through ICT.
Road shows in rural areas will also be conducted under this project to popularise ICT education, not only among women, but also among general school and college students.
These special-purpose buses will be air-conditioned, soundproof, and equipped with 25 workstations each. Training infrastructure will include a laptop per trainee, large-format LED screens, sound system, Wi-Fi facility, customised training modules, learning software, and a standby generator.
The ICT Division will provide the training material free of cost and supervise the trainers. According to Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Communication, the total number of mobile phone subscriptions reached 128.939 million by the end of July 2016 while the number of internet subscribers reached 63.915 million during the same period.
 
Mobile gender gap
A GSMA study reveals that women in South Asia are 38 per cent less likely than men to own a mobile phone, highlighting that the gender gap in mobile phone ownership is wider in certain parts of the world.
Highlighting Kenya’s success in financial inclusion, the GSMA in its research—
titled ‘The Impact of Mobile on Women and Economies’—pointed out that M-Pesa improves the lives of women and contributes significantly to the Kenyan economy. M-Pesa is a mobile phone-based money transfer, financing, and micro-financing service.
‘The 2016 Brookings Financial and Digital Inclusion Project (FDIP) Report’, which was released in August, claimed that women in many countries face particular challenges in accessing and utilising formal financial services.
Again, the 2014 Global Findex data demonstrated a positive trend in respect of increased adoption of formal financial services among women globally. But the database also revealed that the gap between account ownership of men and women has remained flat over the past few years.
 
Bangladesh’s role
The study said that in Bangladesh, Bangladesh Bank (BB) has directed all banks and non-bank financial institutions to set up a ‘Women Entrepreneur’s Dedicated Help Desk’ at all branches. A directive from Bangladesh Bank indicates that each branch should identify at least three potential women entrepreneurs. Between 2014 and 2015, the share of women entrepreneurs (SME entrepreneurs) increased from about 8 per cent to 26 per cent.
The study highlighted that so far, financial inclusion initiatives in Bangladesh do not appear to have been significantly disrupted. As of spring 2016, the drafting of a national financial inclusion strategy, under a committee chaired by the BB governor, was under way.
According to the report, Bangladesh’s robust mobile capacity levels have contributed to increasing take-up of mobile financial services (MFS) in the country, which, as of 2014, boasted among the highest mobile account ownership levels among the Asian FDIP countries.
Here are some observations made by the study regarding Bangladesh. 
It is one of the fastest growing mobile money markets in the world when measured by the number of accounts. In part, this is due to the prevalence of mobile phones (as of March 2016, there were about 131 million mobile phone subscribers out of the total population of about 160 million), and fairly strong 3G network coverage.
Still, in absolute terms, adoption of MFS—particularly among women—presents opportunities for further growth, and high rates of over-the-counter transactions may limit individuals from reaping the full benefits of MFS.
Further efforts are needed to address the gender gap in account ownership, which, as of 2014, was about 9 per cent with respect to accounts at formal financial institutions or with mobile money providers.
Women’s leader Salma Khan said: “Although women are visible as an important driving force in Bangladesh’s economic development, there is still no policy to determine their contribution.”
State minister for post and telecommunications, Tarana Halim, said: “We are working on how to connect to women. Our priorities are internet safety and financial inclusion of women. We are working on it.”

Mobile Financial Services

Inclusion of women unlocks significant growth

The inclusion of women in the mobile internet and mobile financial service (MFS) business can create an estimated market opportunity of USD 170 billion for the mobile industry by 2020, says a study by the GSM Association (GSMA). In low- and middle-income countries, a significant gender gap exists in mobile phone ownership and usage. Of course, this is hindering the growth of the mobile industry. But it also means that in todays increasingly connected world, women are being left behind. To bridge this gap, GSMA has launched the Connected Women programme. It is working with mobile operators and their partners to address the barriers for women to access and use mobile internet and mobile money services. Empowering women Together, we can unlock this market opportunity for the mobile industry, deliver significant socioeconomic benefits, and transform womens lives. When women thrive, societies, businesses, and economies thrive, the programme states. GSMA director-general Anne Bouverot said: Mobile technology is a powerful tool. It transcends geographies, cultures, and socioeconomic statuses, and offers wide-ranging benefits to women and society. Mobile phones help women feel safer and more connected, save time, and enable access to key services such as mobile money and health information. In its research titled Bridging the gender gap: Mobile access and usage in low and middle-income countries, GSMA found that access to and use of mobile phones help women feel safer, more connected, save time and money, and can increase education and employment opportunities. Ensuring that women own phones, and ensuring that all women who own phones in low- and middle-income countries increase their usage of phones, could unlock an estimated USD 170 billion market opportunity for the mobile industry by 2020. Like other countries, Bangladesh is also considering it a top priority, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina recently said at a programme. The PM has also advised experts to enhance cyber security. Digital Training Bus Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina recently inaugurated the Digital Training Bus Project as part of an initiative to connect women with information and communications technology (ICT). State minister for ICT, Junaid Ahmed Polok, told The Independent that the Digital Training Bus project will be executed over three years. Six buses, equipped with modern ICT training facilities, will be deployed to offer ICT training designed to reach out to women who cannot venture out of their homes or localities due to social restrictions. ICT Division, Robi Axiata, and Huawei will provide two buses each. These buses will be maintained by Robi and Huawei in collaboration with the ICT Division. Under this three-year-long project, six buses will be used to provide basic ICT training to 240,000 young and talented women across 64 districts. The project is expected to generate massive interest among women (especially in rural areas) to pursue entrepreneurship through ICT. Road shows in rural areas will also be conducted under this project to popularise ICT education, not only among women, but also among general school and college students. These special-purpose buses will be air-conditioned, soundproof, and equipped with 25 workstations each. Training infrastructure will include a laptop per trainee, large-format LED screens, sound system, Wi-Fi facility, customised training modules, learning software, and a standby generator. The ICT Division will provide the training material free of cost and supervise the trainers. According to Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Communication, the total number of mobile phone subscriptions reached 128.939 million by the end of July 2016 while the number of internet subscribers reached 63.915 million during the same period. Mobile gender gap A GSMA study reveals that women in South Asia are 38 per cent less likely than men to own a mobile phone, highlighting that the gender gap in mobile phone ownership is wider in certain parts of the world. Highlighting Kenyas success in financial inclusion, the GSMA in its research titled The Impact of Mobile on Women and Economiespointed out that M-Pesa improves the lives of women and contributes significantly to the Kenyan economy. M-Pesa is a mobile phone-based money transfer, financing, and micro-financing service. The 2016 Brookings Financial and Digital Inclusion Project (FDIP) Report, which was released in August, claimed that women in many countries face particular challenges in accessing and utilising formal financial services. Again, the 2014 Global Findex data demonstrated a positive trend in respect of increased adoption of formal financial services among women globally. But the database also revealed that the gap between account ownership of men and women has remained flat over the past few years. Bangladeshs role The study said that in Bangladesh, Bangladesh Bank (BB) has directed all banks and non-bank financial institutions to set up a Women Entrepreneurs Dedicated Help Desk at all branches. A directive from Bangladesh Bank indicates that each branch should identify at least three potential women entrepreneurs. Between 2014 and 2015, the share of women entrepreneurs (SME entrepreneurs) increased from about 8 per cent to 26 per cent. The study highlighted that so far, financial inclusion initiatives in Bangladesh do not appear to have been significantly disrupted. As of spring 2016, the drafting of a national financial inclusion strategy, under a committee chaired by the BB governor, was under way. According to the report, Bangladeshs robust mobile capacity levels have contributed to increasing take-up of mobile financial services (MFS) in the country, which, as of 2014, boasted among the highest mobile account ownership levels among the Asian FDIP countries. Here are some observations made by the study regarding Bangladesh. It is one of the fastest growing mobile money markets in the world when measured by the number of accounts. In part, this is due to the prevalence of mobile phones (as of March 2016, there were about 131 million mobile phone subscribers out of the total population of about 160 million), and fairly strong 3G network coverage. Still, in absolute terms, adoption of MFSparticularly among womenpresents opportunities for further growth, and high rates of over-the-counter transactions may limit individuals from reaping the full benefits of MFS. Further efforts are needed to address the gender gap in account ownership, which, as of 2014, was about 9 per cent with respect to accounts at formal financial institutions or with mobile money providers. Womens leader Salma Khan said: Although women are visible as an important driving force in Bangladeshs economic development, there is still no policy to determine their contribution. State minister for post and telecommunications, Tarana Halim, said: We are working on how to connect to women. Our priorities are internet safety and financial inclusion of women. We are working on it.