First Mobile Money Africa Awards to Honour Industry’s Most Innovative Projects and Companies

Johannesburg, South Africa, March 22, 2013 --(PR.com)-- The fifth annual Mobile Money Africa conference and expo returns to Johannesburg from 28-29 May when around 400 industry leaders from retail and central banks, MNOs (mobile network operators), telecoms regulators and the retail/merchant sectors will gather.

Mobile Money Awards Africa 2013
The Mobile Money Africa director Emily Martyr explains: “We are celebrating the success of mobile money and the impact that it is having on the lives of end users around the world and turning the spotlight on excellence in innovation and service delivery.”

She continues: “For the first time, the industry, on the continent will also have the opportunity to recognise and reward the innovators in this market and nominate their peers. The winners will be announced during an awards ceremony after the first day’s conference sessions on 28 May. We are launching the online nominations programme this week and all companies with a relevant mobile financial offering in Africa will be eligible to enter. We look forward to honouring the brightest minds in this sector.”

The Mobile Money Africa Award categories are:

- Best Financial Inclusion Service 2013
This Award recognises a current mobile financial service that has brought about tangible socio-economic improvement, and made a real difference to the unbanked in Africa through greater financial inclusion. It could be from a bank, telecommunications service provider, solutions vendor, or other financial institution.

- Best Mobile Money Application Award
Understanding what functionality customers require in a mobile financial service is tantamount to success. The winner of 2013’s best mobile money app Award will be a financial institution, MNO or app developer – either on feature phones, smartphones, or web based - that demonstrates a current, innovative and consumer-centric mobile money app in Africa.

- Mobile Banking Service of the Year
Recognises an outstanding mobile banking initiative from a financial institution in Africa over the past year.

- Best Mobile Money Platform for Africa 2013
This category is an opportunity for platform providers to shine, and will recognise a quality solution being used in Africa over this past year.

- Best Retail Initiative Award 2013
With mCommerce gaining importance and innovations taking place to facilitate wider use of mWallets, this Award recognises the best retail initiative in Africa relating to mobile money in the past year.

The awards are open to telecommunications service providers, financial institutions, solutions vendors and 3rd party service providers and the online nomination form is available from the event website. The deadline for submissions is 22 April.

Event dates:
Mobile Money Academy pre-conference workshop: 27 May
Conference days: 28-29 May
Post conference site visit: 30 May

Location: Hyatt Regency Hotel, Johannesburg, South Africa