An Interview with Orange Money – Part 1
Posted: January 20th, 2012 | viewed: (1,422) | Comments: ( 0 ) | Topic: Blog Post, Orange Money | Region: Africa
First launched in Côte d’Ivoire in December 2008, Orange Money is also available in Senegal, Madagascar, Mali, Niger and Kenya, as well as in Botswana and Cameroon. It will soon be launched in Mauritius. At the end of 2011, it reached an important threshold: 3 million customers in the eight countries where it is now offered, thus becoming one of the most powerful mobile money services in Africa. Orange Money has tripled its customer base in the past year and continues to grow with the recent launch of services in two new countries: in Botswana in partnership with the Standard Chartered Bank, and in Cameroon in partnership with the BICEC (BPCE group).
To understand more about Orange’s overall strategy, I recently caught up with Frederic Blehaut, Group Business Manager at Orange Money to gain some insights into their service and their journey towards this significant milestone.
MMU: Hi Frederic, Can you describe briefly the various Orange Money products and models presently found in Africa?
FH: Orange Money is an innovative, mobile-based payment service specially designed to meet the needs of customers in Africa and the Middle East. In countries where it is available, customers may open an Orange Money account whether or not they have a bank account. Orange Money allows customers to carry out simple banking operations and transactions including money transfers, where users can send money using their phone to any Orange mobile customer in the country; bill payments, as well as access to financial services, including solutions facilitating savings and insurance. For sub-Saharan Africa we are using a similar model so there is a general logic behind our regional strategy. However, we are aware we need to take into account the local context. For example, an exception to this rule has been our service in Kenya, Iko Pesa. Given the presence of a strong competitor such as M-PESA, we had to carefully adapt our model to this unique market. At the core is a partnership with Equity Bank which allows customers access to a full bank account.
MMU: Can you describe Orange’s interest / commitment in Mobile Money – why is this such a key service for the group?
FH: There is very high level of commitment from group level in addition to top management support at the national and supranational level. The group is focused on providing a strong value proposition for its customers and wants to respond to their needs for these services. We see mobile money as an investment, as well as enabler for in-country economic development. By providing our customers with the means to save money, pay bills, run their businesses and receive money from abroad, we are not only reinforcing customer fidelity but we are also able to play an active role in the economic and social development of the country.
MMU: Orange Money recently reached the threshold of 3 million customers. What are the main changes in terms of Orange’s mobile money strategy which have contributed to this sharp increase in its customer base over the past year?
FH: There has been a change of focus. The Orange Money story is a long one in terms of product development. Last year, the group launched in countries which we think have great potential. However, the focus is now on the actual business. We are focusing on explaining to customers how Orange Money is a financial service and working on different customer segmentations. We are also lucky to have a group of committed country team members which are now focusing heavily on business development. The success of Orange Money today is not based on the natural evolution of the product but is rooted in the simplicity of our service, in our ability to have a good distribution network and in an overall improvement to our communications strategy. We realized that the customer journey needs to be pedagogical, secure and easy.
MMU: Orange launched in Botswana in partnership with Standard Chartered Bank and in Cameroon in partnership with BICEC. In your opinion, how do these countries differ from West and East Africa, both sub-regions which have their own internal market dynamics for mobile money?
FH: Botswana has one of the highest incomes per capita in Africa and exhibits higher rates of financial access. We are providing customers with a similar product but adapted to the local context. Cameroon on the other hand is more similar to the rest of the sub-Saharan markets. An interesting market to watch in my opinion is Madagascar given the high level of competition and vibrancy in the market. There are over half a million mobile money customers and it’s a large country with poor infrastructure, which facilitates the development of mobile money services.
We ask ourselves a key question going into a market: Do we just need a mobile wallet or do we need to go one step further and link it to a bank account.
MMU: Thank you Frederic.
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