The Northern Regional Minister, Salifu Saeed, has lauded the contributions of MTN Ghana to the economy of the country, saying the telecom giant within a span of ten years has made the needed impact through its mobile money business and other initiatives.
He said the introduction of MTN mobile money services ten years ago gave many people in the Northern part of the country who did not have bank accounts the opportunity to save their money in mobile money accounts.
“Because of the hassle and bustle people go through in order to open accounts with banks, many people have now subscribed to mobile money which is helping them in their businesses. I can tell you as a politician, the politicians you have saved a lot of our time. As a politician I can tell you the number of mobile money I have sent to people; school fees, I want to farm, I need fertilizer, I need chemicals, hospital bills, and other things.
“You’re not only serving the politicians… you’re also serving the market women who are able to do business with ease because they no longer carry cash with them when they are travelling to the villages to buy and sell unlike before”, Mr. Saeed said this when he joined MTN Ghana on Thursday to launch the MTN Momo 10th anniversary celebration.
The Northern Regional Minister also cited the many job opportunities MTN Ghana has created for the youth through mobile money vending and retail services as well as skills training.
Eli Hini, General Manager in charge of MTN Mobile Money Financial Services said MTN Ghana has taken and continue to take all the necessary steps to ensure that its platform is secure and safe for customers to transact business without facing any fraudulent challenges.
“As a result of the measures we have put in place to prevent fraud, we are the first platform to be ISO certified. That notwithstanding, I will entreat our clients to be vigilant when transacting business”, he said.
According to him, through MTN Momo services, over 124,000 agents and an additional 5000 mobile agents across the country are earning a living.
As part of the anniversary celebration, Mr. Hini announced the training of 100 members of the Ghana Federation of Persons With Disabilities and a free Gh₵4,000.00 startup capital for each person after the training.
“There are also 10 cars, motorcycles, television sets and other items for the public to win when they subscribe to mobile money and use their mobile money accounts to transact business. All of these are happening in the month of June. So I will entreat the public to take advantage and win something”, he noted.
The Tamale Divisional Police Commander, Chief Superintendent Dr. Zoiku Dinam also said mobile money fraud is becoming rampant and cautioned the public to beware of how they respond to unsolicited text messages and calls from unscrupulous persons.
He mentioned steps to avoid in order not to be scammed which include giving out mobile money pin numbers to close relatives to withdraw money, using simple or easy to memorise digits to create pin numbers, avoid responding to unsolicited text messages and calls from suspicious persons.
The 10th anniversary celebration of the MTN Mobile Money Services is intended to share the success story of the brand with clients and other members of the public. The celebration also seeks to reward clients for their commitment and loyalty to the brand.
By /Philip Liebs
