Mobile Money Opens Doors in Senegal

June 28, 2010

Obopay, a Redwood City, CA firm known for its innovative work in the mobile payments space, is teaming up with the international banking giant Societe Generale to bring mobile payments to Senegal, a nation of about 14 million situated in West Africa.

The first phase of the project was launched today through Societe Generale de Banques au Senegal (SGBS). Known as Yoban'tel by Obopay, the service is carrier agnostic, thus making it possible for anyone with a mobile telephone to pay bills and send cash anywhere within Senegal with the ease of a text message.

Folks who want the to can sign up for the service at branches of SGBS or the offices of other commercial partners situated throughout Senegal.

"In Senegal, traditional banking services are typically very limited; people can spend an entire day each month standing in line to pay for things like their utility services in cash," explained Richard Hababou, managing director for Societe Generale Innovation Group. That's why the service is being made available to everyone in Senegal, SGBS customers and non-customers alike, she explained.

Obopay is the brainchild of Carol Realini, a recognized technology innovator, who explains that she came up with the notion of a mobile payments platform while traveling in Africa and recognizing how many of the poorest people there had mobile telephones, even if they did not have bank accounts.

Since its start up in 2005, Obopay has been a leader in the mobile money space, having partnerships with leaqding mobile carriers around the world and big-name financial services firms, including MasterCard and Citibank.

In announcing the deal with Societe Generale, Realini said it was expected to "bring new mobile money access to millions."

Additionally, she noted, with the introduction of this new service, Obopay now operates in four different national regulatory environments: the U.S., India, Kenya and Senegal. That's a big deal.

154 million people worldwide received micro-loans in 2007; Just 13,000 of these loans were made to Americans.

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