People in rural areas of Traditional Authorities Ndawambe and Mkanda in Mchinji District have raised concerns that lack of access to mobile phone network is a major challenge that discourages them from adopting and using digital finance services.
They raised the concerns during a digital finance service awareness campaign in the district.
Traditional Authority Ndawambe said it was difficult for them to switch to mobile phone money transactions because the area has no mobile phone network.
Head Teacher at Mkanda Secondary School, Marcel Elifala, asked the mobile phone network providers to strengthen their network’s capacity for it to be accessible everywhere and all the time.
Elifala also described the service fees incurred when doing electronic money transactions as being exorbitant.
Support for Digitalisation Financial Inclusion and Campaign Competitiveness Project`s E-Trade Specialist, Sangwani Mkandawire, said he was encouraged that mobile network operators are being involved during the campaign for them to see how best they can also respond to their consumers’ concerns.
The campaign is spearheaded by the Ministry of Finance and Reserve Bank of Malawi with funding from the African Development Bank Group.
By Brighton Thengoliweta Chimsinde, MANA
