You can now use your mobile phone to pay for your goods and services at specific points of sale, thanks to a new mobile payment solution that seeks to boost cashless transactions in the country.
Riding on the success of the mobile money platform, Imara Mobile has introduced a card-based mobile payment solution that enables mobile money users to pay for goods and services at supermarkets, restaurants, hospitals, fuel stations, among others.
Speaking in Kampala yesterday, the company’s general manager, Mr Albert Aguta, said although mobile money service providers have a provision where subscribers can pay for goods and services directly from their mobile money accounts, the culture is yet to pick up, with most people using the platform only for sending and receiving money.
“We want to promote a culture of cashless transactions in the country because of the convenience it comes with,” he said.
To transact using the Imara mobile wallet, a registered mobile money user needs to tap the Imara mobile Wallet Card on the point of sale to initiate the transaction.
Upon initiating the process, a message will be sent by the respective mobile money service provider to the user’s mobile phone number, requesting them to authorise the transaction by keying in the mobile money pin or password.
The solution is expected to be rolled out across Kampala within two months.
Introduced in 2009 in the country, mobile money services have become so popular among Ugandans due to the high penetration rates of mobile phone services.
The volume of money transacted through mobile money has also grown substantially over the years, hitting Shs11.7 trillion last year, up from Shs3.75 trillion in 2011 while subscriber numbers have grown to 8.9 million users.
However, Uganda is still more of a cash-based economy. For instance, although commercial banks introduced the Credit Card facility about four years ago to ease payment for goods and services, it is yet to gain popularity.
From: Monitor Publications
