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‘Mama Money’ Sees Opportunity In Remittances Within Africa

‘Mama Money’ Sees Opportunity In Remittances Within Africa

Mama Money, a new remittance company based in South Africa has launched an inter-Africa money transfer service that enables immigrants to send cash back to their relatives and friends back home using cellphones and internet.

The transfer service, which was launched in January this year, started by focusing on helping Zimbabwean immigrants to South Africa transfer their money at a 5 percent commission. There are over 2 million Zimbabweans working in South Africa.

“We saw a huge opportunity. We saw a high volumes of remittances coming into Africa. Everyone has someone somewhere that is sending them money and that is lifeline,” Matthew Coquillon, Mama Money co-founder, told CCTV Africa.

“We then looked at South Africa, which is the most expensive country to send money out of in the world. It cost about 19 percent to send money out of South Africa, whereas the global average is about 8.5 percent.”

Remittances from family and friends living abroad are one of the largest source of livelihood for many families across Africa, but the cost of sending money to the continent is one of the highest in the world.

“International remittance is the single biggest financial flow into Africa, exceeding foreign investment and official development assistance (international aid),”  Coquillon said.