Browsing by Author "Hoope, Saskia"

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    The role of mobile money services in improving microfinance services in rural areas: A case of m-pesa in Kilosa, Morogoro
    (Mzumbe University., 2013) Hoope, Saskia
    After the implementation of National Microfinance Policy in 2001, microfinance was officially recognized as a tool for poverty eradication and it is in the very vein of the country’s economy and national politics. But the service accessibility to rural areas remains untouched to the unbankable and unserved community. The study objective was to examine the role of mobile money services (MMS) to the unbankable people at Kilosa District in Morogoro. Specifically the study aimed:- (i) to compare accessibility of M-PESA financial service to other non-mobile financial services.(ii)to establish MPESA transactions costs and compare with other non-mobile microfinance services.(iii) to study M-PESA user-friendliness and compare to other microfinance services available locally. Primary data was obtained using questionnaire whereby 30 respondents in Kilosa Village in Morogoro were selected at random, interviewed using both open and closed ended questions to obtain the required data for the study. The questionnaire was focusing on respondents’ role of mobile money services in the study area. Data were analyzed using frequencies and descriptive statistics. The results showed that Mobile money services play a greater role to improve the microfinance services in the study area. Costs for using MMS were cheap as compared to bank accounts which require one to visit the nearest bank and ATM which was far from the village and increases transaction costs was the major constraint. Also the MMS from M-pesa menu was user friendly as compared to other service providers. The study recommend MMS to be included in the microfinance policy to establish the legal framework and security measures for the agents at the remote areas where they handle large volume of transaction in a day.