• It is a source of income for a number of people.
• The business provides employment to the youth.
• Recent BoZ statistics on financial inclusion indicate that over 100, 000 dealers are into the business.

Mobile Money Business Association of Zambia says many people are penetrating the sector because it is a source of income for a number of households, and also provides employment for the youth.
Speaking in an interview with Money FM News, Association Publicity Secretary Terry Nchimunya said the new normal demands that most of the transactions must be done online which mobile businesses provide, hence the environment is conducive for such operations to thrive.
Mr. Nchimunya noted that according to the recent financial inclusion statistics from the Bank of Zambia (BOZ), over 100, 000 dealers are into mobile money business.
He however said the Central Bank has not captured all of them because the country has a potential of over 4 million mobile money dealers.
“The reason why the Mobile money business is booming is that we know that we are in this so called era the new normal. So the era we are in demands that most of the transactions are done online which mobile businesses provide. So naturally the environment is conducive for such businesses to thrive.”
“So we would like to affirm that recent financial inclusion statistics from the Bank of Zambia, show that over 100, 000 dealers are in this business, but they have not captured all of them I must confirm because when you ask about membership, we have a potential of over 4 million mobile money dealers the whole country. Although naturally we have started with Lusaka, we have a membership for Lusaka for over 550 because those are active dealers and we have rolled out a membership drive to capture the whole potential,” Mr. Nchimunya said.
Despite the boom in the business, several money laundering risk factors exist in the mobile money space, including the absence of credit risk.
According to Mr. Nchimunya, one of the reasons the Association exists is to clean up fraud challenges that have become so rampant.
“When you ask the risk that are involved, that is why the association is existing now, is to mop up because there are a lot of risks, there is fraud, so we as an association want to clean up the problems of fraud.”
Meanwhile, Association Secretary General Chris Sinchende observed that some political party cadres have invaded the sector and are collecting money from the dealers thereby depriving the Councils from the much needed revenue.
Mr. Sinchende called for collaboration with all mobile money dealers in order to make it easy to deal with some of the challenges the sector faces.
“Like any other business, mobile money business also has some risk factors, issues of fraud, issues of security, issues to do with when placing up a booth, legality, the council and issues to do with the cadres. This time we have a lot of cadres that have taken over these places, the ones who are charging money, hence the councils are losing a lot of revenue through that,” he observed.