Tigo Rwanda announces commitment to reduce gender gap in mobile internet and mobile money .

Tigo Rwanda yesterday signed the Connected Women Commitment Initiative that aims at reducing the gender gap in mobile internet and mobile money services during the GSMA Mobile World Congress Barcelona, Spain.  

As the only telecommunication firm in Africa to sign the commitment, Tigo Rwanda has pledged to increase the percentage of women accessing its mobile financial platform ‘Tigo Cash’ from 39% of total users to 45% by 2020. This commitment will support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls.

Tongai Maramba, CEO of Tigo Rwanda and Jean Philbert Nsengimana Minister of Youth and ICT

This goal shall be reached by increasing the number of female agents, improving the data top-up process to be safer and more appealing to women and improving digital literacy among women through educational programmes and interactive content

Speaking after the signing, Tigo Rwanda Chief Executive Officer, Tongai Maramba, said:

“Tigo Rwanda is committed to increasing the number of women using mobile financial services from 39 per cent to 45 per cent by 2020. Women take on a significant amount of responsibility for their families’ financial management, including emergency payments, remittances and daily domestic management; in fact women direct up to 90 per cent of their income to their families and communities. Increasing women’s access to mobile financial services will in turn allow them to improve their quality of life, that of their families and that of their communities.”

According to Mats Granryd, GSMA Director General, in an increasingly connected world women are being left behind.   

“GSMA research estimates there are 200 million fewer women than men who own a mobile phone in low- and middle-income countries. But even when women do own a mobile device, they are far less likely to use it for more sophisticated services, such as mobile internet and mobile money, and therefore miss out on key socio-economic opportunities. Ensuring digital and financial inclusion for women is critically important, as when women thrive, societies, businesses and economies thrive.”

The GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, uniting nearly 800 operators with more than 250 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset and device makers, software companies, equipment providers and internet companies, as well as organisations in adjacent industry sectors

About Tigo Rwanda

Tigo Rwanda is owned by Millicom, a leading telecommunications and media company uniquely dedicated to emerging markets in Latin America and Africa. It provides mobile, mobile financial, cable and satellite services to over 60 million customers in fourteen countries, primarily under the Tigo brand. Tigo has been operating in Africa since 1993, in Rwanda since 2009, and serves over 26 million customers in Africa.