GSMA Publishes Handbook on Agent Networks: How to Build, Incentivise and Manage a Network of Mobile Money Agents

Over the last several years, distribution has proven one of the most difficult pieces of the mobile money business to get right. Even with the accumulated experience of distributing airtime in their markets-often through thousands of retailers-mobile network operators find the process of building a network of mobile money agents, incentivising them appropriately, and managing them to be fraught with difficulties. Indeed, from keeping agents liquid to deterring fraud, operators consistently rank issues related to agent networks as among their most vexing.

In response, the Mobile Money for the Unbanked Team at the GSMA is today pleased to release the first instalment of a handbook for mobile network operators on building, incentivising, and managing networks of mobile money agents. This report is the product of six months of research into and analysis of the ways that mobile network operators and other providers of mobile money services approach distribution. It is designed to serve as a reference not only for operators that are just beginning to consider their distribution strategy, but also to those that are interested in benchmarking their approach against other alternatives.

Today, we are releasing an introduction to this handbook and the first section, entitled “Building a Network of Mobile Money Agents”. Between now and Mobile Money Summit, which is being held May 24­-27 in Rio de Janeiro, the other two sections of the report will appear on this blog: “Incentivising Mobile Money Agents” and “Managing a Mobile Money Agent Network.” The complete handbook will de distributed in hard copy in Rio de Janeiro in May, accompanied by an article on agent network regulation.

Each section of this report is designed as a series of questions and answers, to make it as easy as possible to navigate. In the first section, we tackle basic questions like, “What do agents do?” and “How are agents recruited?” as well as more difficult ones, like “How big should an agent network be?” Among other topics, we discuss the pros and cons of using field registration agents; the optimum rate of agent network growth; and the benefits of an aggregator/ masteragent tier in mobile money distribution.

This report is the product of conversations with dozens of industry participants, and we are grateful to everyone who has shared their experiences with us. At the same time, we recognize that the mobile money industry is still young, and that all of the conclusions we draw in this report are at best provisional. So we look forward to hearing your feedback about this and future instalments in the comments section of this blog.

The document is available on our Agent Networks Page

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