WorldRemit, the online money transfer service which has been tapping into mobile money services as a global expansion strategy, recently announced the introduction of Instant Mobile Money remittances to Burundi through a partnership with Econet Burundi.
It’s is now possible to send money directly to an EcoCash wallet in Burundi, a service which is identical to what WorldRemit and EcoCash Zimbabwe had already enabled locally in June last year.
This partnership which is the first of its kind from a remittance service in Burundi, further extends WorldRemit’s footprint in mobile money remittances while introducing the 2 million Econet Burundi subscribers to an alternative channel for remittances.
According to information from WorldRemit, this service is meant to address a market of 350,000 Burundians that live outside the country, while drawing on the huge role played by mobile money services in a largely unbanked country.
Although WorldRemit becomes the first remittances service to pair up with a mobile money service in Burundi, this sort of arrangement is becoming increasingly popular throughout Africa because of the huge role played by mobile money in financial inclusion.
Other remittances concerns like Western Union and Mukuru have also effected similar arrangements in other African countries. In Zimbabwe, this has been with mobile operators Econet and Telecel. WorldRemit is also partnering with other operators, having signed with MTN earlier this year to introduce similar services throughout MTN’s 16 country network.
