
Apply HN: A more convenient mobile wallet for the unbanked - gskalra
I was living in Malaysia as a student years ago and it was difficult for me at times to withdraw cash(as the ATM’s were either too far away or they used to shut down at midnight). What I realized it that it would be easier if I could pay with my mobile prepaid credit. After quite a bit of research, I realized that was a difficult proposition as telcos liked to take a big cut and they would only pay merchants after 60-90 days.<p>I also saw that there are many people who are unbanked or to whom banking is not very convenient for. So I’d like to create a mobile payment wallet that could be topped up by your local shop or your friend. You could go down to your local shop, give them say $100(more or less) and it will be transferred to your account(just like it would be when you top up your mobile prepaid).<p>The money in your wallet could be used to make online payments(ecommerce, bills etc). It could be used to deposit money into a bank account(which you could create on the platform perhaps). You can top up anytime and very conveniently.<p>In Malaysia alone, there are 10 million prepaid mobile users(from 2015 stats). With an assumption that close to 40% of these people are unbanked(the % is almost double in Indonesia) means that there is a huge possibility to scale this up.<p>The idea here is to do away with the ATMs and the Cash deposit machines. Mobile is the way to go and we’d like to get everyone there. Make it easier for all.
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audreyzack
Yeah, It's true. Mobile wallet is one of the convenient and unbanked ways to
shop things and get fulfilled your daily needs. You might be interested to
know more about most popular digital wallet options available today -
[http://www.webgranth.com/mobile-wallet-apps-and-mobile-
ecomm...](http://www.webgranth.com/mobile-wallet-apps-and-mobile-ecommerce-
not-intimidating-these-days)

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buss
This idea is pretty well proven in Africa and Central/South America. What do
you know about the existing markets and how will you do it better?

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gskalra
one of my previous projects was an ecommerce play for kenya. that's where I
studied the mpesa model quite a bit.

As for the south east asian region sans Singapore, there is quite a lot that
can be done in this space. A significant chunk of the population is unbanked
or it may not be immediately accessible to these people. Also the number of
prepaid mobile lines could be 3-4 times more compared to the postpaid lines.
Which is why it maybe useful to have a prepaid wallet top up where it would
help users transition to the service. For foreign students/workers in
Malaysia, they used to have to put down a RM1,000 deposit to get a postpaid
mobile line in the past. I'm unsure if they still need to do it.

With this service, it would give the end user another means of convenience
when it comes to bill payments, normal payments and maybe even online
shopping. By being able to top up anywhere(at any shop, where all the
registered merchant needs is to have a mobile, the app and an account), the
user sees a much more convenient way to run their transactions, rather than
going to the bank(branch, ATM or CDM).

This could also open the door for banks to try and sign up users to open bank
accounts(if we can work out a way to make the sign up. There is a plethora of
services that can be offered.

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sandGorgon
is this like
[http://www.molpay.com/v3/7eleven](http://www.molpay.com/v3/7eleven) ?

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gskalra
not really.

Say you were working in a factory. Imagine if you were paid in cash monthly,
say $1,200. You come back after a long shift and need to rest. But you also
need to go and queue in line to pay your bills.

Your access to banking may not be so convenient and you'd really like to spend
more time resting. What if you could go to your neighbourhood shop and top up
your mobile wallet(through a transfer) and just make your payment through the
app.

That's where I'd like to see this idea go towards.

