Marie sits with a group of other women outside a small vendor in Saint Marc, Voilá mobile phone in hand. They are waiting to spend the 1600 gourdes (US$40) that Mercy Corps just sent to their T-Cash accounts. As heads of households with IDPs (internally displaced persons) from the earthquake, they are among 5,000 recipients in Saint Marc who will receive money on their phones to buy rice, oil, beans, and cornflour from fifty small, local merchants. Our host for the day, Andrew Lucas, explains to us that this is a much more dignified way of distributing aid than MINUSTAH-guarded blind giveaways, and we wholeheartedly agree. Mercy Corps in Saint Marc are doing their best to make sure that their donations go to people who are most in need, and that their program is conducted with as much benefit to small businesses as possible.
Food aid recipients such as Marie seem to be using their mobile money without too much trouble. Mercy Corps help recipients register for T-Cash, give them a mobile phone, help the recipient activate their phone, train them to make payments using their mobile accounts, give them printed instructions, and visit vendors to make sure everything is running smoothly. Mercy Corps also employ volunteers to assist vendors and aid recipients during the transactions. Vendors are also happy: they are moving a lot more stock and making more money. Technical problems that crop up are worth the extra profit. Mercy Corps monitor prices in the town and encourage customers to seek out the lowest prices, as they normally would.What's interesting to us is the overall mobile money landscape in Saint Marc. Thus far, Digicel's TchoTcho Mobile has no presence in the town, and Mercy Corps / Voilá have big plans for the next few months that will integrate an interesting range of players into their program. In April and May, Mercy Corps and the Red Cross will run a market once per week in which 2,500 of the current recipients will be given a one-off payment of US$250 to spend on materials to build or renovate their homes, or to pay school fees (including technical/trade school). Later on, half of these recipients will be selected for a third time to spend a further US$250 on tools for small enterprises.
This approach–of targeting customers, merchants, agents, and billers simultaneously–is a promising solution to mobile banking's 'chicken-and-egg' problem of providing enough users for agents, and enough agents for users. It the potential to achieve a critical mass of users that will secure mobile money's future in Saint Marc, so long as the transition from food aid to a publicly available service is handled correctly. At the moment, there is no fully-functioning T-Cash outlet in Saint Marc. Indeed, having functioning agents goes against Mercy Corps's mission, because it would allow beneficiaries to cash out the money they have been given rather than spend it on food. But future users of mobile banking in Saint Marc will need to be given the entire service if their town is to link up with users across the country–and these connections are essential to the future success of mobile banking in Haiti.Who will become T-Cash agents? At the moment, many of the businesses accepting food aid payments are displaying T-Cash signs and banners but are not actually agents. This is problematic because there is a risk of losing customers' confidence, should they try to use a service and find that it is not working. At the moment these merchants can accept payments for food aid and nothing else; their customers cannot cash in or cash out, nor can their other customers who are not aid recipients pay for food. Furthermore, most of these vendors are not eligible to become T-Cash agents because they are not registered businesses. Mercy Corps is working to train them in business skills and help them register their businesses.
We are optimistic that Saint Marc can successfully transition to be a true T-Cash town. But we recommend the following: that Mercy Corps and T-Cash keep a critical eye on their joint operation to ensure that there is no conflict of interest; that they work closely with customers, merchants and agents in Saint Marc to ensure the development of a publicly available service rather than a closed aid program; and that they encourage link-up between different agents around the country. We also encourage TchoTcho Mobile to establish a strong presence in Saint Marc, in order to ensure that mobile banking in Haiti is competitive and prices stay low. Resolving the chicken-and-egg problem is not just about achieving a balance between users and agents; it is also about ensuring that different chickens are laying the eggs, and that the eggs can be transferred from one basket to another.--Erin B. Taylor
--Photo #1: Women waiting to buy Mercy Corps food using T-Cash. Photo by Erin B. Taylor.
--Photo #2: Merchants filling out paperwork for food aid purchases. Photo by Erin B. Taylor.
--Photo #3:Food aid beneficiaries waiting in line at a merchant, phones in hand. Photo by Erin B. Taylor.
--Photo #4: Small Mercy Corps affiliated merchant in Saint Marc. Photo by Erin B. Taylor.
Who is the mobile money agent? In Haiti, businesses providing a mobile money service have a sign on the front of their shop identifying them as an “Agent Authorisé” (authorized agent). The business has gone through the training provided by the mobile money operator and is able to carry out the different transactions involved. However not all agents are created equal. Our research has found several types of agents.
Some mobile money agents are additions to already existing money transfer businesses. Voila’s T-Cash outlets are currently located in UniTransfer offices. The placement of the mobile money at the UniTransfer office is not without problems. Because there is only one line for money transfers and mobile money, T-Cash customers face the same amount of time waiting in line that existed prior to mobile money. Furthermore, mobile banking customers are more likely to be robbed using transfer houses than other kinds of businesses that are not associated with withdrawing cash. Long lines and the potential security risk associated with walking out of a mobile money outlet will discourage customers.
Benjamin, a computer programmer at a cyber café represents one of those “agents” whose work load was increased by the addition of mobile money service at his outlet. On the one hand, he is one of the most enthusiastic agents we have met because he is a true believer in the product and its promise. However, he is also a bit discouraged because as he said: “I am working for the mobile money operator but I do not feel that I am benefiting from them.” According to Benjamin, the agents are not the only ones who suffer. Clients do not receive the kind of attention they deserve, especially for a service that is so new and that involves their money. He explains, “When someone comes and are about to give them their money you have to spend all the time they need and answer all of their questions in order for them to trust you with their money.” Given that the target of mobile money are unbanked people for whom every penny counts, their ability to trust their agents is crucial to their adoption of mobile money. If clients cannot count on their agents being there or the agent has to rush off to serve other customers potential mobile money clients will think twice before adopting mobile money.