Mobile Financial Service stakeholders In Ghana urge to provide equitable access to mobile-enabled financial inclusion

Date: 2022-01-03
news-banner

The Insights Manager, Assistive Tech, Connected Society, and Mobile Money at GSMA, Armita Satari, has suggested to stakeholders and innovators in Ghana’s Mobile Financial Service (MFS) space to consider the nuances to ownership, including intersectionality between gender and disability if they want to provide equitable access to mobile-enabled financial inclusion.


She noted that in the absence of such considerations, owning and using a mobile money account can still be inaccessible or only accessible with the assistance of a trusted person.

In a recent GSMA Report on how Mobile Money can drive financial inclusion of persons with disabilities in Ghana, Ms. Satari observed that the convenience of transacting from a mobile phone, mobile money, and other fintech solutions could improve the financial inclusion of persons with disabilities significantly.


Mobile money wallets, she said, provide access to a range of financial services, not only person to person transactions but also merchant payments (online or in-person), savings and microloans, and insurance, adding that transacting via mobile removes barriers such as inaccessible infrastructure, often faced by customers with mobility or visual impairment; systemic discrimination of persons with visible disabilities in approval processes of loans; bank tellers with no or little training on inclusion or how to better serve customers with disabilities; and communication barriers.


Acknowledging that mobile money and other fintech innovations have the power to transform the experience of persons with disabilities for financial inclusion, Ms. Satari thinks that the barriers preventing persons with disabilities from accessing mobile services, including mobile financial services, are complex and cannot be addressed by mobile operators alone.


She then proposed collaborative actions on stakeholders to raise awareness on mobile money and other fintech solutions and accessibility functions that can support persons with disabilities.

“Making smartphones more affordable for persons with disabilities would also tackle a significant barrier, as would digital skills training designed to help the learning journey of persons with different types of disabilities,” she said.

By: Kanto Okanta

Leave Your Comments