YU launches yuCash Mobile Money in Kenya
In the news today, YU, Kenya’s fourth mobile network has (finally) launched its mobile money service, yuCash. The service is being powered by Obopay which is a well-established and global mobile money system. YU intends the service to be operational not just in Kenya but throughout Africa wherever it intends to establish operations.
In rolling out yuCash, YU is has partnered with Equity Bank to deliver services throughout its extensive branch network in Kenya, and presumably in Uganda where it also has a significant footprint. In Kenya alone, Equity Bank has over 4 million account holders making it the largest bank in this respect. It also means that YU could get many Equity Bank customers to sign-up for yuCash by default which could be a key factor for services uptake.
yuCash is now effectively Kenya’s third mobile money service after the wildly successful M-Pesa service from Safaricom and Zain’s Zap service. However, by using Obopay for yuCash’s back-end, YU has upped the ante since Obopay is NOT just a mobile money service. Using Obopay, its also possible to make Internet payments for goods and services with registered merchants and service providers who are part of the Obopay ecosystem. As a result, yuCash could (potentially) become a default e-commerce platform for Kenya and the broader African region.
However, what remains to be seen is how much traction yuCash will gain considering its coming to the mobile money game quite late with Safaricom’s M-Pesa having a dominant lead in the marketplace. Having been the first to launch and also having the largest number of users to-date. M-Pesa is very well entrenched in the psyche of users in Kenya as the de facto mobile money service. But, M-Pesa is yet to evolve into a more sophisticated and extensible mobile money system like Obopay which could become its Achilles heel.
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10 Comments
Greetings Moses,
Yucash is an interesting shot from YU at the money transfer business. Credit to their efforts even on the mobile telephony sector here in Kenya.
E-money transfer is the current momentum worldwide, i hope you noted the NokiaMoney launch in the recent weeks.
I must say i was dissappointed by Safaricom Mpesa’s rollout despite being billed as the first worldwide mobile money transfer product(this might need further clarification).
they missed the chance to franchise Mpesa worldwide and make royalty money from the “first to market” competitive advantage.
same way Obopay is gonna reap from YUcash franchise.
keep on.
http://www.linkedin.com/in/njorejkaranja
I would like to enquare about this new service with an interest to be an agent. Kindly email me all the requirement and am based in Nairobi.
how can i access the internet through my yu l;ine is it possible?
[…] the YU network to act as an agent for its extensive branch network in Kenya (this was covered in a post on this blog as well). As of this writing, Equity Bank has the largest number of account holders in […]
YuCash
This is going to create a great positive difference to Kenyans
We and my business are ready to be considered for agency business We are in Nairobi.May YU provide us with enrollment details
EOO
Hello all,
While it is very fashionable to include M-payment to the service provision by Mobile Providers, They should not just copy the Technological aspect on M-Payment but also the Business aspect of M-Pesa. Look at Zap no-body is in a harry to partner as a money retail (Agent) this is because of the Business logic behind it. These guys should dig in to details and I think that is what Orange is doing all the best orange
Stephen Ng’ethe Njoroge
[…] Customers typically need a smart card to avail these services, but if an ATM network collaborates with a mobile banking solution, clients may draw cash from on the basis of their mobile wallets (yuCash, Kenya). […]
How much do i need to invest to be a yucash agent outside Nairobi area.
Shadrack M
HI we are a registered association group of youth in Nairobi Kenya, we are looking for a promoters that can support us in presenting the greatest children VARIETY SHOW . The show will consist of children under the age of 15 years ,this show will test and discover the kids talent .Kindly looking forward to here from you
@stanley please get in touch with YU on http://www.yu.co.ke directly to get assistance. This was just a blog post I did on them.