As humans, our biggest trait is adaptation. Our ability to adapt to changes in our lives. New generations will then see the current situation as the norm, but older generations will know what it was before.
My mother once told me a story of how she had come from Kumasi to Accra to call her sister in London. The Ghana Telecom lines were not working and because of the urgency of the call, she continued to Lagos to call London. This story to most people reading sounds like a tall tale (false story), but it’s the absolute truth. Today, most people do not remember the days of IDD (International Direct Dialing). To use your home phone to call outside Ghana was a privilege for the rich in society. For the rest of the poor and middle class, you had to go to the call center with IDD to call outside Ghana. This situation was only 24 years ago. Today, because of prepaid calling credit, calling outside Ghana is normal for everyone.
Not long ago, when Mobile money was introduced, there were MTN MoMo, Vodafone Cash and AirtelTigo Wallet. You were only allowed to transfer money within the same network, MTN MoMo to MTN MoMo, Vodafone Cash to Vodafone Cash. So most people had two phones for two momo accounts or three for 3 wallets if your business receives momo. You did not want a customer who has MTN MoMo to go away because you only receive Vodafone Cash. Secondly, if you had plenty of money in your wallet, you had to cash out, travel to the bank and deposit the money. If someone sends you a transfer from abroad (e.g., Western Union), you had to go to the bank, fill out a form and queue for your money.
We have on numerous occasions, heard Dr. Bawumia talk about the Mobile Money Interoperability payment system. In May 2018, Dr. Bawumia launched this interoperability payment system to fundamentally change our lifestyle and how we do business in Ghana.
Since Mobile Money Interoperability was implemented, you can now send money across networks, MTN MoMo to Vodafone Cash and vice versa. As a business, you only need one phone with a money wallet to receive payments from all networks. When there is too much money in your wallet, the interoperability has made it possible to transfer money to your bank account. There is no need to cash out and travel to the bank. When you don’t have money on your momo wallet, you can transfer from your bank account to your wallet even when the bank is closed. You can now receive your Western Union or any foreign transfer directly into your MoMo wallet.
Now, take a minute to think about how difficult and cumbersome our lifestyle was before Mobile Money Interoperability. 2018 is only 6 years ago. All the difficulties and hassle in our daily lives are gone because of a visionary leader, Dr. Bawumia.
Politics aside, when we talk about leaders who have impacted our lives with innovative thinking since independence, I am sure you will add Dr. Bawumia for Mobile Money Interoperability.
This is the leader who wants to be your president and bring more innovative ideas to lead Ghana into the 4th Industrial Revolution.
This, which you take for granted today, was not possible 8 years ago.
It is Possible.
