Tigo Rwanda has officially
launched the ‘Tigo Payment Solution for Agriculture’ platform that has
increased the financial and digital inclusion of over 10,000 tea farmers in two
tea plantations located in Mulindi and Rusizi District.
The Tigo Payment Solution for
Agriculture was created to provide mobile solutions for the agricultural sector
in order to improve the communication and payment streams for local farmers.
The platform, created in partnership with Access to Finance Rwanda (AFR), the
Wood Foundation, TRAC Fund and local area Saccos, has improved the lives of the
farmers working at the Mulindi and Shagasha tea factories in Gicumbi and Rusizi
District respectively.
How the Tigo Payment Solution
for Agriculture works
When the Mulindi and Shagasha
tea factories pay the farmers’ salaries in their Sacco accounts, due to the
technical integration between Sacco banking platform and Tigo Cash platform, the
farmers are able to receive their monies on their TigoCash wallets on their
handsets. After an SMS notification is sent to a farmer’s handsets informing
them that money has reached their Sacco account, they can then go to their
local Tigo Cash agent and receive their payment.
With this platform, farmers no
longer need to travel to their local Saccos and queue in line to receive their
payment.
Explaining how the platform has
changed her life, Evangeline Bikorimana, a tea farmer from Gicumbi District,
said;
“Before Tigo launched this
platform, we would wake up extremely early to head to our local Sacco. In fact,
we would sometimes sleep in our clothes so that we could leave our homes before
daybreak so that we could arrive at the Sacco before others. However, despite
our best efforts, we would usually find a huge number of farmers waiting to
receive their salaries. We would often have to go home and return the next day.
Today that is no longer the case and it’s because of Tigo.”
In order for the project to be
successful, Tigo facilitated the bulk purchase of affordable handsets for over
7,000 farmers who could not afford handsets.
Commenting on the success of the
project and the lessons learnt, Judith Aguga Acon, Technical Director of AFR
said;
“This project has enabled AFR to
understand and appreciate SACCOs operations as well as the need for more
innovations in the mobile financial services sector in order to
enhance access to financial services by smallholder farmers and therefore
improve their incomes and livelihoods. The lessons from this project should
result in increased AFR investment in supporting agricultural finance. Most
importantly, this project has shown that success can only be achieved in
partnership with strategic partners like Tigo Rwanda as well as value-chain
actors like Wood Foundation among others”
According to the Chief Executive
Officer of Tigo Rwanda, Philip Amoateng, this platform is the latest in the
line of innovations that Tigo has brought to the market.
“We are proud to have
provided a medium for farmers to access their money in a seamless way using
Tigo Cash. The platform that we are launching today is only the latest
innovation that we have introduced in order to ease the lives of Rwandans while
increasing digital and financial inclusion countrywide.
With
the rapid growth in mobile phone penetration, mobile solutions can reach remote
farmers in a way that no other form of communication can, helping them to
improve productivity and increase efficiency throughout the agricultural chain.
Tigo
believes that the agricultural sector is key to unlocking the economic power of
mobile finance in rural communities. The
success of this project can be replicated into a sustainable business model
that will allow penetration of other value chains besides agriculture”.
Speaking
at the launch as the Guest of Honor, Jean Philbert Nsengimana, Minister of
Youth and ICT, reiterated the fact that ICT innovations and platforms such as
the Tigo Payment Solution for Agriculture
have the power to provide solutions to Rwanda’s challenges.
“Tigo Payment Solution for
Agriculture platform is one of the best examples of how ICT can change lives.
Currently, about 80% of Rwandans live in rural areas; so while we can talk of
‘Smart Cities’, we also cannot forget to talk about ‘Smart Villages’ as well.
This platform is an example of what the Smart Village concept is all about. In
fact, we need to deliver this platform much faster and to a wider user base.
This platform is a win-win. It
is economically feasible as well as effective. Such initiatives need
partnerships. We thank Tigo, AFR as well as the Wood Foundation for partnering.
Let us keep innovating because the needs of the country are pressing“, Minister
Nsengimana said
in conclusion.
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.
Currently, Tigo Rwanda has over
three million customers and has invested over US $310 million from 2009 to
date. Tigo Rwanda provides 4G LTE on mobile for both prepaid and
post-paid customers. Tigo Rwanda was awarded as the ‘Most Innovative
Service’ at Africa Com 2014, for international mobile money transfers with
integrated currency conversion between Tigo Rwanda and Tigo Tanzania as well as
awarded for “Best ICT Exhibitor” at the Kigali Expo 2015.
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