Roughly under a year in the market, BotswanaPost’s Poso Money has already been subjected to changes that will see the service even more enjoyable to the end users.
Following a successful launch of the mobile money service by the state-owned postal agency dubbed PosoMoney in April 2019, the solution has now added a feature of transferring money from the PosoMoney card to any bank card.
The PosoMoney card-to-wallet facility, a development that BotswanaPost announced this Thursday, now allows PosoMoney users to top-up their account using any debit/credit card.
In a communiqué form the parastatal this week, it reads, “through this feature, PosoMoney users are able to manage their PosoMoney account and credit their wallets by linking them directly from any bank account.”
Through this feature, customers can do so through PosoOnline, which is accessible at the BotswanaPost website. This is in addition to the current top-up method of using a registered PosoMoney Agent, or via the Post Office.
This PosoMoney was introduced this year as a mobile money service to counter the declining volumes in our traditional over-the counter money transfer services. It works on any phone and any network and allows customers to cash-in, cash-out, pay bills, transact prepaid services and send money to any mobile number on any local network.
This PosoMoney to bank wallet initiative comes after BotswanaPost has built on its existing partnership with Sefalana Holdings of mini post offices.
Last week at the BotswanaPost financial year end results for the 2018/2019 financial year, BotswanaPost Chief Commercial Officer, Clifford Lekoko indicated that for the past 2-3 years, these standalone mini post offices have been reducing congestion in branches, which is the exact outcome needed by BotswanaPost. He said, “With efficiency being our number 1 priority going forward, the Kiosks are coming to the fore as formidable value centres. They are cost-effective to run and strong revenue earners for the business.”
According to Lekoko as the one heading the project, the comparatively late entry into the market proved to be an advantage. Uptake of PosoMoney he said is rapid because the customer base was already familiar with this type of offering.
Currently he indicated, “we are currently processing approximately 10 thousand money transfers a month. It provides a money transfer platform that does not discriminate between mobile networks. This gives us fertile ground in which to grow and establish a position of superiority in the market.”
Research shows that platforms just like PosoMoney create significant economic growth opportunities for people in rural areas who are currently unbanked.
