Why Mobile Money Is Becoming the Future of Banking in Africa* For decades, the story of banking was the same: big buildings, long queues, paperwork, and branches that never reached the village. If you didn’t live in a city or didn’t have a payslip, banking wasn’t for you. Then a text message changed everything. In 2007, Kenya launched M-Pesa. A few years later, Uganda followed with MTN Mobile Money and Airtel Money. No bank account needed. No internet required. Just a basic phone and an agent around the corner. Today, that simple idea has grown into something much bigger. Mobile Money, or MoMo, is no longer just “send money home.” It is quietly becoming the foundation for how millions of Africans transfer money, save, borrow, invest, and participate in the economy. And if current trends continue, MoMo won’t just be an alternative to banking. It will be the way most people experience money altogether. 1. Financial Inclusion at a Scale Banks Couldn’t Reach Traditional banks did their best, but the math didn’t work. Building a branch in every trading center costs too much. Hiring tellers to serve $2 transactions doesn’t make sense. MoMo solved that by turning every shop with an agent float into a bank branch. In Uganda, over 70% of adults now use mobile money. Across Sub-Saharan Africa, there are more than 400 million registered mobile money accounts. For many, this is the first time they’ve ever had a place to safely store money, pay school fees, or send support to family. That’s not a small improvement. That’s financial inclusion at a speed and scale the world has never seen. 2. The Wallet Is Becoming a Bank The first generation of MoMo was about transfers. The second generation is about everything else. Open your MoMo app today and you’ll see more than “Send Money.” You’ll see savings. Loans. Bill payments. Government taxes. School fees. Merchant payments with QR codes. Telcos have partnered with banks and fund managers to offer money market funds and micro-loans, approved in minutes based on your transaction history. If you sell 300,000 UGX a month through your MoMo till, that data becomes your credit score. No collateral needed. We are watching wallets evolve into full financial platforms. The goal is simple: everything you need to manage money, in one app, on the phone you already own. 3. Crossing Borders Will Be the Next Big Leap Right now, MoMo is powerful domestically. But money doesn’t stop at borders. Families in Uganda send to Kenya, Tanzania, and Rwanda. Traders buy goods from Nigeria and Dubai. Diaspora remittances are a lifeline. The next 5 years will be about making MoMo-to-MoMo work across countries the same way it works across towns. Regional payment systems like PAPSS in Africa and direct telco integrations are already testing this. When that friction disappears, cross-border trade for small businesses will explode. A boda guy in Kampala will be able to pay a supplier in Nairobi without touching a bank or Western Union. That’s when MoMo moves from domestic utility to continental infrastructure. 4. Data, Not Branches, Will Drive Credit Banks ask for collateral. MoMo asks for data. Every bill you pay, every customer who pays you, every savings cycle you complete — it all builds a financial identity. For people who have been “invisible” to banks, this is revolutionary. We will see AI-driven lending where your phone predicts your cash flow and offers you the right loan, at the right time, with the right repayment schedule. We will see insurance products priced per day, not per year. We will see investment products starting at 1,000 UGX, not 1,000,000 UGX. This is how wealth building starts for people who were locked out before. 5. The Future Isn’t MoMo vs Banks. It’s MoMo + Banks.

I am pleased to announce that a memorandum of understanding has been signed between the Republic of Kazakhstan and Network School. Our new campus will become a haven for global techno-optimism, with expedited visas, streamlined redomiciliation, and active recruitment of talent.

KENYATAAN MEDIA PEMBATALAN LESEN PERNIAGAAN DAN ARAHAN PENGHENTIAN OPERASI NS0 MALAYSIA SDN. BHD. (NETWORK SCHOOL) DI FOREST CITY 1. Kerajaan Negeri Johor mengambil maklum dan menyokong sepenuhnya keputusan Mesyuarat Penuh Khas Majlis Bandaraya Iskandar Puteri (MBIP) untuk membatalkan lesen perniagaan serta mengarahkan semua aktiviti NS0 Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. (Network School) di Forest City dihentikan, berkuat kuasa pada 22 Julai 2026. 2. Keputusan tersebut dibuat berdasarkan proses dan peruntukan undang-undang yang berkuat kuasa, selepas penelitian terhadap laporan pemeriksaan, dapatan penguatkuasaan serta representasi yang dikemukakan oleh pihak syarikat. 3. Untuk makluman, tindakan penguatkuasaan hanya boleh diambil selepas aduan serta maklumat disahkan, pemeriksaan dijalankan, ketidakpatuhan dikenal pasti dan proses undang-undang disempurnakan. Tempoh sesuatu premis beroperasi tidak bermakna semua aktivitinya sentiasa mematuhi syarat lesen. Apabila ketidakpatuhan dikenal pasti, tindakan mesti diambil tanpa kompromi. Kerajaan Negeri akan terus memperketat penyelarasan antara agensi agar sebarang ketidakpatuhan dapat dikesan dan ditangani segera. 4. Kerajaan Negeri ingin menegaskan bahawa Johor sentiasa mengalu-alukan pelaburan berkualiti tinggi yang memberi manfaat kepada ekonomi, mewujudkan peluang pekerjaan dan memacu pembangunan negeri. Namun begitu, tiada mana-mana pelabur, syarikat atau organisasi boleh diletakkan mengatasi kedaulatan undang-undang negara. 5. Dalam ruang lingkup bidang kuasa yang diperuntukkan, Kerajaan Negeri dan Pihak Berkuasa Tempatan tidak akan berkompromi terhadap sebarang pelanggaran undang-undang atau perkara yang boleh menjejaskan keselamatan, kedaulatan dan kepentingan negara. 6. Sehubungan itu, Kerajaan Negeri menggesa Kementerian Dalam Negeri (KDN), Jabatan Imigresen Malaysia (JIM), Polis Diraja Malaysia (PDRM) serta agensi keselamatan berkaitan meneruskan siasatan dan mengambil tindakan tegas sekiranya terdapat penyalahgunaan pasport kedua, salah nyata identiti, pelanggaran syarat kemasukan atau apa-apa kesalahan di bawah undang-undang Malaysia. 7. Perkara ini tidak boleh dipandang ringan, lebih-lebih lagi apabila Johor merupakan pintu masuk strategik negara yang bersempadan dengan Singapura. Sebarang kelemahan atau penyalahgunaan sistem imigresen mesti ditangani segera, tegas dan tanpa kompromi. 8. Pada masa yang sama, Kerajaan Negeri menggesa Kementerian Digital dan Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) mengambil tindakan sewajarnya terhadap status Malaysia Digital atau sebarang pengiktirafan yang telah diberikan kepada organisasi berkenaan sekiranya terdapat ketidakpatuhan terhadap syarat atau prinsip yang ditetapkan. 9. Kerajaan Negeri turut menggesa semua agensi berkaitan memperketat proses “due diligence”, termasuk semakan latar belakang, pemilikan, sumber pembiayaan, bentuk operasi serta naratif yang dibawa oleh mana-mana syarikat atau organisasi. 10. Penyelarasan antara agensi juga perlu diperkukuh agar setiap pelaburan atau inisiatif antarabangsa diteliti secara menyeluruh dari aspek pelesenan, imigresen, keselamatan, penggunaan premis dan pematuhan undang-undang. Kerajaan Negeri akan terus bekerjasama dengan semua pihak bagi memastikan Johor kekal sebagai destinasi pelaburan yang diyakini, tanpa berkompromi terhadap keselamatan, kedaulatan dan undang-undang negara. 11. Semua perkara diatas telah disembah maklum serta perkenan kepada Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di-Pertuan Agong serta Duli Yang Amat Mulia Tunku Mahkota Ismail, Pemangku Sultan Johor. Sekian. ONN HAFIZ GHAZI Menteri Besar Johor 21 Julai 2026