de v elopment
Simple and relevant
financial services
through mobile
de v elopment
The Republic of Mali has one of the highest birth rates
in the world (women have on average 6.8 children) and
the costs of childbirth can quickly exhaust a family’s
income. In the absence of proper savings channels,
many women are forced to rely on informal self-help
groups for savings.
Dare Okoudjou, CEO, MFS Africa
Mali also has a high maternal mortality
rate, with almost 5% women dying due
to childbirth. In a global comparison of
maternal mortality rates conducted by
Lancet (2010), Mali ranks 165th out of 181
of countries with the highest maternal
mortality rates (181st marking highest
maternal mortality rate).
MFS Africa - at the forefront of financial services innovation
Overall, women of reproductive age
face many challenges in Mali especially
access to health services. About 54 in
every 1000 women die during childbirth
although it could be preventable if
they had access to health facilities and
beneficiated from assisted delivery. Only
45% of women give birth at a health
facility and 51% of women do not have
access to a skilled medical professional.
This situation is due to many factors
including: lack of information on healthy
timing and spacing of pregnancy, poor
access to health systems, and lack of
money to deal with complications that
may occur during delivery.
About 54 in every
1000 women die
during childbirth…
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At MFS Africa, we believe these kinds of
problems can be alleviated by cutting-
edge technology (mobile phone) applied
with smart process engineering. To
deliver on our belief, we have partnered
with Orange Mali, PSI and NSIA to
bring TIN GELEYA to Mali women - a
mobile phone-based pregnancy health
insurance coverage that combines a
savings account with health insurance to
cover the cost of treatment for common
childbirth complications. Pregnant
women conveniently subscribe to the
service from their Orange Mali mobile
phone and contribute monthly through
their Orange Money account. This allows
Malian women to give birth in hospital
without worrying about the cost, and
thus hopefully reduce the dreadful
mortality rate.
TIN GELEYA is an example of the
how we at MFS Africa re-invent ‘old’
financial services (health insurance)
into new, simple, relevant and accessible
financial services in Africa. Our typical
innovation process involves picking a
service (say a hospital protection plan),
unpack it’s value chain to understand
the key building blocks, identifying
what we can remove, add, re-mold,
reduce or augment to the process to
lower delivery cost and expand reach.
We then repackage the service and
optimise for mobile phone distribution.
Mobile technology is at heart of most
of our services. We love mobile phones.
Unashamedly.
In February 2011, we pioneered the
distribution of life insurance through
mobile with Mi-Life launched in Ghana
in partnership with MTN Ghana,
Microensure, UT Life and Hollard
Insurance. In 2012 we launched the first
mobile-based short term credit service,
KwikAdvance (www.gokwikadvance.com)
in Ghana and in Cameroon. Later the
same year we launched groundbreaking
online remittance services whereby
recipients receive the international
money transfers directly on their mobile
phones, in partnership with MTN Group
(www.mtnmmo.com) and Orange (www.
orangemoneyonline.com).
MFS Africa was founded in 2009 with
the mission to provide simple and
relevant financial services for all mobile
users in Africa. We focus on a few
financial services for which we know
demand is proven, re-engineer the
services to optimise for cost-effective
distribution and administration through
mobile phones. We then partner with
Mobile Network Operators and Financial
Institutions to make the services
available to mobile users. We are a
diverse company of 15 nationalities
spanning across 4 continents, speaking
22 languages, brought together by the
profound belief that we can make lasting
change to people’s lives, by leveraging
mobile technology. We make financial
services simpler to access, easier to
use and more affordable for ordinary
people, through the mobile phone. We
focus on financial services because of
their multiplier effect - a good insurance
product shields people from uncertainty;
improved money transfer services
…these kinds
of problems can
be alleviated
by cutting-edge
technology (mobile
phone) applied
with smart process
engineering
makes it easier for diaspora members
to support their relatives at home;
using a mobile phone to pay for things
online unlocks trade potential within and
across borders, not to mention that it
stimulates the growth of local merchants
to employ people; and easier to access
and simpler-functioning credit services
are oil to the wheel of the millions
salaried and ‘survival entrepreneurs’
across Africa.
Headquartered in Mauritius, MFS Africa
has offices in Accra, Abidjan, Douala,
Johannesburg, and Kigali and operates
in 13 markets across Africa including
Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, Congo
Brazzaville, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Liberia,
Madagascar, Mali, Rwanda, Uganda,
Senegal and South Africa.
Contact us on [email protected] or
visit mfsafrica.com
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