[asterisk-biz] Mobile money for the rural communities in Cameroon

[Mark Scholten]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: asterisk-biz-bounces at lists.digium.com [mailto:asterisk-biz-
> bounces at lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of christian
> Sent: Sunday, May 02, 2010 12:07 PM
> To: asterisk-biz at lists.digium.com
> Cc: gideon at lukmefcameroon.org
> Subject: [asterisk-biz] Mobile money for the rural communities in
> Cameroon
> 
> I am the CEO and co-founder of the charity organisation in Cameroon.
> We are
> currently working on a project aimed at improving on remittance towards
> the
> rural communities in Cameroon.
> 
> I ideal is to have every mobile phone to become a small mobile cash
> account
> with which persons can use to pay bills, transfer funds from one
> account to
> the other, convert their electronic cash to physical cash wherever and
> whenever the need it.
> 
> First we will not want a solution that is too internet based as 98% of
> Cameroonians do not have access to the internet.  Interestedly about 6
> million Cameroonians have cell phones.  Most rural poor also have
> phones
> supported by their children living in the urban cities.  Our idea is
> simply;
> is there away that these persons in urban centres can send small
> amounts of
> cash to relatives in the rural areas?  We should have a way of
> controlling
> the transactions, monitor and provide support.
> 
> While we see this as a charitable project, we also wish to assure
> everyone
> that there can be a lot of money (profit) to be made.
> 
> We are seeking technical advice and partners to develop this further
> 
> Christian
> Tel 237 33332304/ 77947449
> www.lukmefcameroon.org
> 

Depending on your requirements you could make it SMS or voice based. However
to actually receive the money by the persons that are receiving it they
would need a point to claim it (a bank account or a shop where someone pays
the money and lower the money in their account when there is a payout could
work). Something similar is done in India if I'm correct.

I don't remember the name of the company that did it in India, but you could
look for them. I would be happy to ask here internally if we would be happy
(and under what conditions) to make it SMS and/or voice based.

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