Mobile Money Services as a Panacea to Financial Inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Case of Uganda

Abstract

One of the most important drivers for sustainable economic growth and development is financial inclusion. This explains why financial exclusion is a leading cause of extreme poverty and a key barrier to growth. The level of financial inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa still remains low. However, there is evidence that mobile money technology, taking advantage of the high level of mobile phone penetration in the region, has been seen to drive financial inclusion. However, very few studies have been conducted in the region to particularly establish the extent mobile money service usage has leveraged financial inclusion. In this study, we investigate the extent to which three most common mobile money services namely, sending money, receiving money and bill payment have leveraged financial inclusion in a Sub-Saharan African country like Uganda. Our study reveals that the most widely used mobile money service in this rural area was for receiving money. This has greatly enhanced financial inclusion by facilitating both domestic and international remittance.