'My Mobile Money Legacy Application

Abstract

In low- and middle-income countries such as those in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where it is estimated that less than 50% of individuals hold a formal account in a financial institution, mobile money (MM) technologies have greatly improved financial inclusion (FI). Mobile money has increased the speed and reduced the cost of payments especially for geographically dispersed societies and simplified the processes of transacting even for the layman by bypassing formal bureaucracies. Mobile money accounts can now support the full host of financial services to send, receive, sell and users can even lend, borrow, and save. However, though this ease has caused a large majority of people to opt for mobile money accounts, the process of these accounts being accessed by the next of kin in case of the account holder’s demise is still a challenge. Though a formal process exists, it is so cumbersome and costly to the beneficiary that they usually give up on the process of making a claim altogether. ‘My mobile money legacy app’ was inspired by a 2021 report that the various mobile money service providers in Uganda were holding onto an estimated total of 1.7 billion shillings in inactive mobile money accounts many of which belonged to deceased persons. In a poor economy like Uganda’s, it is more prudent that this hard-earned money goes to the beneficiaries to whom the deceased was responsible. Sometimes, these accounts belong to small businesses which are taken on by the beneficiaries. This study looked at how beneficiaries can appoint an inheritor to their Savings on Bank and/or MM accounts in the event that they pass away unexpectedly or otherwise by developing a mobile application which can be incorporated in the sign-up process for opening these financial accounts.