MTN South Africa Announces Rewards Programme For MoMo Users

MTN on Monday announced a rewards programme for users of its mobile money service, MoMo, which is now reaching a million users in South Africa.

The mobile payment service was launched to the public on 1 February and the millionth customer was registered on 19 June.

Innovation is core to the MoMo offering – today marks the launch of a range of exciting new features to benefit users.

These include rewards for those referring a friend, MoMo Pay for e-commerce, as well as cashback on airtime purchases. Seamless access to food vouchers will be available from the first week of July.

“We are excited to be launching the new ‘Refer a Friend’ feature today. This rewards mechanism allows for a MoMo user to receive a once-off credit of R10, when the friend that they’ve referred also goes on to register and becomes a MoMo user,” says Chief Officer of MTN SA’s Mobile Financial Services, Felix Kamenga.

The original user will also qualify for a percentage of the commission if the referred friend buys airtime,” explains Kamenga.

In another addition, cashback rewards will be provided on airtime purchases. This goes directly into users’ rewards wallets and can be transferred immediately into their main wallets for spending.

From next week, Food vouchers, from a list of accredited partners – ranging from Food Lovers Market, Makro, Pick n Pay, Shoprite/ Checkers to Boxer, Clicks, Dis-Chem, Usave and 3 Star – can be sent using MoMo.

With the demand for e-commerce growing rapidly, MoMo Pay for e-commerce is another value-added service launching this week.

“We have an agreement with major partners to enable over 4,000 e-commerce websites that will accept MoMo as a payment method. Further to this, MTN has committed to partner with a range of SMEs that offer products and services via e-commerce channels,” says Kamenga.

“We expect the overall list of partners to grow to over 30,000 sites over the next several months. This will see these e-commerce sites giving people the option of not using their bank cards to shop online, while enabling a range of SMEs to continue operating during these particularly challenging times.”

For consumers, this means that anyone can now do online shopping without the need for a credit card. However, even those with credit cards, who do not trust online payments due to safety concerns, can now use MoMo instead.

MTN brought social media bundle prices to MoMo users at the beginning of April, while waiving MoMo cash in service fees to offer relief during COVID-19. And innovation to bring even more benefits to MoMo users continues. Among the new enhancements, MoMo cash-ins are now available at retail outlets like Pick n Pay and Boxer.

While initial versions of MoMo were rolled out through one-on-one personal recruitment with agents on the ground in taxi ranks and malls, Kamenga says the service is now offered through digital channels to drive all registrations and new feature releases.

“We have successfully adapted our business model to ensure we can expand our reach and remain on track for exciting future growth. In the coming weeks, we will be adding more retail and SME partners to the mobile money solution,” says Kamenga.

“This will see MoMo continuing to enable South Africans to access important, useful services – affordably, safely and conveniently.”