Access and Use of Mobile Money by Microentrepreneurs in Moshi District, Tanzania

Abstract

This study assessed the accessibility and usage of mobile money services by micro-entrepreneurs in Moshi District, Tanzania. A multistage sampling technique with a combination of random and purposive sampling was adopted to obtain a total of 120 shop retailers for questionnaire survey and six key informants for in depth interviews. Data were collected through questionnaire and checklist guide and analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and content analysis. The findings show that most (70%) of the respondents owned one mobile handset. Almost (95%) respondents were using mobile money services for their businesses, and M-Pesa from Vodacom had the highest number of subscribers. Nearly, two thirds (65%) of the respondents had one Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card. The majority of the respondents frequently (often or very often) used mobile money services for paying bills (91.7%), sending or withdrawing cash (91.6%), making purchases and commodity dealing (90.8%), making money transfer (87.5%), recharging airtime (84.1%) and storing money (72.7%). It is concluded that mobile money has been adopted by microentrepreneurs’ even in rural areas. Furthermore, micro entrepreneurs were easily accessing the mobile money services mainly through Vodacom, Tigo and Airtel telecommunication companies. The study recommends that the user should adopt the services so to benefit from their business. Furthermore, these mobile telecommunication companies should offer affordable services especially on the marginalized rural areas.