South Sudan has launched the first mobile money service platform dubbed M-Gurush, becoming the 92nd country in the world to offer mobile money services.

M-Gurush was created as a joint partnership between mobile phone operator Zain Telecoms South Sudan and local tech firm Trinity Technologies and it is licensed by Bank of South Sudan and National Communications Authority.

The mobile money platform has set the trend for the country’s nascent financial technology sector which is expected to boost the young nation’s economy through the provision of digital financial services.

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The initiative will create job opportunities for the youth in rural and urban areas and boost money transactions in the East African nation even as South Sudan’s information minister, Michael Makuei Lueth insisted that the new service is not all about technology rather about positively impacting on people’s lives.

Joseph Arinaitwe, Trinity Technologies Vice President, said the platform will promote broad digitization of the economy especially, by enhancing financial inclusion and rural market penetration.

“M-Gurush is a mobile-based and digital services solution that will work with anyone that has a handset across South Sudan. Basically, services that will be available on M-Gurush include the following; cash in, cash out, bill payment, airtime purchases, cross-border remittances, and power payment options. These services will primarily run on a USB or a mobile application,

The chairperson of National Communication Authority, Ladu Kenyi said that the new service will curb the weak financial sector which has largely been caused by high illiteracy rates, lack of identity cards, low coverage and money laundering.

In Kenya, M-Pesa highly transformed the country’s economy since its launch in 2007, various studies found that increased access to mobile money reduced poverty and lifted an estimated 2% of Kenyan households out of extreme poverty.

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