culled from: This Day Newspaper
There are job opportunities in the horizon, thanks to the granting of licences to 16 mobile payment operators by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Operators are scrambling for workers that can deliver the goods, writes AKINOLA AJIBADE.
MOBILE payment came with a bang. It is an innovative way of carrying out transactions without going to the bank. It is in practice in some parts of the world, but it will soon take off in Nigeria.
With its coming will be job opening for many. What is mobile payment, by the way? The system de-emphasises the use of banking halls for transactions, reduces the interface between depositors and their bankers, and the unbanked population. Also, it ensures payment through phones, guaranteeing safer transactions.
Other benefits include prompt service delivery and creation of jobs. Of paramount importance is the job opportunities it provides. With the licencing of 16 mobile payment operators by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), many unemployed graduates stand the chance of being employed. Many of them have been besieging the offices of those operators since September when CBN granted them licences.
Those who can work with them include channel managers, network administrators, security experts, marketing consultants, information and technology experts and agents.
At present, the companies are operating with ad-hoc staff recruited early in the year. But with the companies' readiness to fight for their own market shares, it has become imperative for them to hire more workers.
Chief Executive Officer, Mobile Money Africa, Emmanuel Okogwale, said the firms will employ many workers to achieve success. Okogwale said people would be employed across boards because the system is complex, adding that the jobs are relative, depending on what each company wants.
He said the companies will employ money payment agents who will be entitled to commission. He said the roles of the agents are sensitive, because they would be dispensing cash at designated points. Okogwale said the agents must acquire relevant skills and understand the rudiments the system before they can succeed.
He said: "Also to be employed are channel managers. They are responsible for the management of the mobile payment agents. Channel managers perform technical roles and are badly needed by the mobile payment firms. Thousands of agents are going to be employed by the firms due to their peculiar nature. The mobile payment system is a big project, and it requires the employment of various cadres of workers."
Okogwale said the companies would employ marketing consultants, risk management and security experts to encourage growth.
According to him, the system has opened up opportunities for information and technology (IT) experts to showcase their skills and further earn good salaries.
"Mobile payment system is a combination of telecom and banking activities. That is why the services of IT personnel are needed. Just as commercial banks cannot do without the services of risk management experts, so also the mobile payment companies. Marketers are going to be employed to market the products initiated by the companies," he added.
A 400-level marketing student of Lagos State University (LASU), Kehinde Oyetunji, said the mobile payment system would reduce the number of unemployed in the labour market. Oyetunji, who worked as a marketer with a mobile payment firm owned by the United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc at the just-concluded Lagos International Trade Fair, said he enjoyed the work. He described the system as innovative, challenging and rewarding.
The Editor, Financial Technology Magazine, Shola Fanawopo, said different categories of workers will be employed by the operators. He said the first category has to do with those in direct employment, adding that such workers are required to have specialised skills and good academic qualifications, among other attributes.
He said agents are the second category of workers that would be employed by the operators. He said the agents are going to be in strategic areas, to ensure prompt distribution of money to people. Fanawopo said operators will use various outlets for the success of the business.
"More than 250,000 agents would be employed by the mobile payment operators. Those that sell recharge cards would be used as agents. Those who work as fuel attendants, in drug stores among others, would work as agents. The operation of mobile payment companies can be likened to that of Global System of Mobile Communication (GSM) operators that provide indirect employment opportunities to Nigerians. You know that millions of people are now selling recharge cards in the country today. The same goes for mobile payment operators or carriers. Many people would work as agents for the mobile payment service providers," he said.
He said the agents serve as intermediaries between the mobile payment operators and the depositors.
"If you want to send or give money to somebody irrespective of his destination, agents are required to deliver the money to the person. The agents are banks on their own. Once you give an agent the code that signifies that somebody authorised you to collect money, the agents would hand over cash to you immediately. The system is organised in such a way that nobody can play pranks and go away with it. Even if somebody stole your mobile phone, he would find it difficult to access your account or know your password. Basically, what the agents do is to give you the cash equivalent of the codes you presented to them," he added.
He said the third category of workers are those in the software companies, adding that such workers prepare applications that would drive mobile payment system.
Fanawopo said the operators are going to benefit from the system, as the banks and insurance companies would make money by selling their products through mobile payment operators. He said people would be buying insurance policies through the agents, instead of going to insurance firms, offices for such needs.
He said the system will benefit every sector of the economy, adding that there would be mass recruitment of workers soon. Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, said the system was introduced to reduce the unbanked population put at over 80million, aid the cashless economy programme and bring abundant benefits to stakeholders.
It seems safer to say that the system holds the ace in the economy. It may be one of the largest employers of labour soon. But the onus lies on Nigerians to utilise the opportunity.
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Kindest Regards
sludba Team
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