Topyster Muga

Head of Airtel Money at Airtel Kenya

Nairobi, Kenya

@AIRTEL_KE | LinkedIn Profile

You had the opportunity to receive your MBA from INSEAD. Can you expand on this program and how you were
selected?

Insead business school has consistently been a leading global business school renowned for its diversity. It offers a 10 month full time MBA program across two campuses, one in France at Fontainebleau and in Singapore. Admission to INSEAD entails a rigorous application process. MBA applicants are evaluated on key areas such as unique professional and personal background, leadership potential, diverse contribution to the class mix, GMAT score, post-MBA ambitions among other criteria. I made my application, passed the admission criteria, was offered a place in the July 2012 MBA class which I gladly accepted and undertook the full time MBA. After admission I also got awarded a partial Nelson Mandela scholarship for my tuition fees.

You’ve been involved with the mobile money space since 2005. What do you believe is the most misunderstood aspect of this space?

Easily the most misunderstood aspect of mobile money is where the money comes from. Many times, those new to mobile money wonder how a mobile money account holder would have funds in his or her wallet without necessarily owning a bank account. It took a lot of convincing and reassurance to the regulators and those who didn’t understand earlier that mobile money providers do not generate money as the services offered are prepaid and the real funds sit in a bank account .

What has been the secret sauce to mobile money success in your experience?

Previously huge number of African people were underserved or financially excluded due to the low penetration of the traditional financial services. Mobile money enabled them access the mobile financial services. In my opinion, mobile money success in Kenya is attributed to:

• Proportionate Regulation: Kenyan Central Bank was open to innovation, allowed mobile money players to rollout the service and worked together in putting in place regulation that enabled the successful rollout over the last 8 years.
• Management Buy In: Senior leadership together with shareholders believed in it and therefore invested in it as mobile money requires patient capital as it generally breaks even in the 3^rd year.
• Robust technology: Being a financial service offered in a non-conventional way, the platform was built to future proof, manage risks while being very simple, fast, reliable and secure for use.
• Strong Distribution Network: These were the key touch points where customers could register, deposit and withdraw funds. The proximity of the outlets brought convenience and a personal touch to the financial service that many people didn’t have before due to low banking penetration.
• Great execution also led to the success as mobile money required key focus in meeting the demanding and evolving customer needs quickly – proactively and fast responsiveness since mobile money is a high involvement product and required great trust building for all the stakeholders.

Do you believe the current regulatory environment in the regions Airtel Money offer solutions for encourage innovation?

I believe the regulatory environment has encouraged Airtel to innovate. As Airtel Money enables the government to:

• Create a cashless ecosystem by eliminating the perils of cash, reducing cost of transaction and creating transparency of money transactions;
• Deepen financial inclusion by providing access to financial services for the unbanked and underbanked;
• Facilitate regional integrations by enabling cross border trade payments, and;
• Increase employment due to the large distribution network and support management team.

Since through Airtel money the government is able to achieve key objectives. One example of this is the government of Kenya will be issuing government bonds through Airtel Money. This will enable government to raise funds to support planned infrastructure projects. Additionally, the Kenyan government is collecting taxes through Airtel Money.

Why do you believe Nairobi is such a strong hub for innovation with respect to FinTech and payments?

Kenyans have a strong entrepreneurial spirit, a very tech savvy youth and this has led to the innovations we have in technology and mobile payments. As many startups innovate, Kenyans embrace these services as they are solving a problem they previously had like real time money transfer.

Who(m) do you believe has had the most influence with respect to your own career?

I have been very fortunate to have great bosses who mentored me and influenced the career path I took to date. At a personal level, my biggest cheerleader has been my husband; he mentored me into business school and continues to support my career growth. From a professional level, while at Vodafone, I was extremely privileged to work under Michael Joseph, former CEO of Safaricom, currently at Vodafone, renown as the godfather of M-Pesa. I treasure the wisdom he led with to build regional and global success stories in the telecommunications as well as mobile money industry.

Who do you consider to be strong women leaders in the FinTech space?

I consider Claire Alexandre, whom I reported to during my time in Vodafone. Previously with Bill Gates foundation she led initiatives to promote financial inclusion and currently as Head of Commercial and Strategy; she has made great strides leading the teams in rolling out mobile money beyond Africa into Eastern Europe. She led approvals from several regulators by influencing several policies shaped the mobile financial services evolution and she continues to lead and influence the next steps in interoperability and international money transfers.

The other budding strong woman in Fintech space is Selma Ribica, an INSEAD alumnus, previously with Vodafone and currently leading remittances at Lebara, a Mobile Virtual Network Operator in Europe. She has spearheaded efforts to ensure international mobile money transfers, enabling more affordable means for immigrants sending money back home, overcoming barriers that existed before with incumbent remittance businesses and now facilitating money movements across borders in a simple, fast, secure, affordable and convenient way.

What do you see as the 3 leading future trends for FinTech?

I see big growth in fintech through:

• Mobile applications especially for Africa with the growth in smartphones;
• Interoperability meaning customers can send money to other networks and the recipients mobile account actually getting updated, and;
• Growth in cashless payments across the retail value chain from consumer-retailer-wholesaler as most face to face payments are currently in cash.

 

Article on Topy from ‘The Prepaid Economy‘