Telecommunications service provider Millicom, with headquarters in Stockholm and Luxembourg, today announced that Tigo Pesa, its Tanzanian Mobile Financial Services, has joined with London-based online peer to peer money transfer service WorldRemit to enable Tanzanian customers in diaspora to send money to friends and families back home.
Tigo Pesa, which allows the transferral of money through smartphones, tablets and computers, is now the most common method for international remittances to Tanzania for WorldRemit customers, according to Tigo Head of Mobile Financial Services, Ruan Swanepoel. Tigo Pesa has now reportedly overtaken cash pick-ups, airtime top-up and bank account transferrals.
"Working with WorldRemit is part of the company's strategy to fully integrate Tigo Pesa to the international payment system," stated Ruan Swanepoel. "Our vision is to make Tigo Pesa customers enjoy making unlimited financial transactions both locally and internationally from the convenience of their phones. WorldRemit provides not only increased transfer speed but also offers better rates as compared to other available money transfer services."
The Tanzanian diaspora market appears to be a significant one, with World Bank data suggesting that around 250,000 Tanzanian emigrants are currently living abroad, particularly in the UK, US and Canada. In 2014, Tanzania received a total $64 million from its citizens living abroad, with the top sender countries to Tanzania being Kenya, United Kingdom, Uganda, Canada, United States, Australia and South Africa.
Jeff Pietras, Vice-President for International Product Development at WorldRemit, outlined the advantages of the system, saying: "WorldRemit is revolutionising the tired world of money transfers through our online and mobile only service. People around the globe can send money instantly to Tigo Pesa wallets with just a few clicks or taps on their smartphone and enjoy fair, transparent pricing."
WorldRemit offers online money transfers to Mobile Money services, which are now seen as the preferred method of receiving money for many countries. In Africa in particular, Mobile Money services transfers have increased by more than 200% over the past year alone and constitute 30% of all WorldRemit transfers from Europe and the United States.
The collaboration represents the second international money transfer service offered by Tigo Pesa, which also launched a similar service with currency conversion in Rwanda.
