JazzCash wants to increase female customer base to 50pc

KARACHI: JazzCash is aiming to increase its female customer base to 50 percent in the next few years to provide easy and secure digital financial services to women.

“Currently, overall JazzCash’s active users are 17 million monthly, out of which 27 percent are women. The JazzCash’s aim is to increase this to 50 percent in the next few years,” said Aamir Ibrahim, CEO of Jazz, while addressing GSMA-panel discussion titled “driving resilience and safety in mobile money ecosystem”.

He said JazzCash’s initial success amongst females is due to convenience as they were less likely to visit banks in Pakistan. JazzCash provided easy, quick, and secure digital financial services to women from the comfort of their homes, he added.

Another reason for JazzCash’s success has been the vast agent network spread throughout cities, towns and rural localities. Currently, the platform has close to 125,000 active agents in the country.

“Our vast footprint, especially in areas without brick-and-mortar banks, allows us to provide the underserved with basic financial services, onboarding new customers and educating millions on the benefits of mobile money,” Ibrahim said.

Expressing his desire to empower more females in this area, he said Jazz was working to increase the number of female agents to at least 10 percent of the total agent network.

“By inducting more female agents, we aim to foster a psychologically safe environment for females to transact conveniently. This will also open up new earning models for them as mobile money can be an attractive business for dedicated agents,” he added.

Addressing the affordability barrier to mobile phone ownership in Pakistan, Jazz was the first local mobile operator to offer 4G smart feature phones at very affordable prices. Jazz Digit 4G has also been recognized as a successful rollout globally by GSMA in expanding the benefits of mobile broadband, especially among low-income segments in Pakistan, he mentioned.

In response to a query about damages caused to critical digital infrastructure by recent floods in Pakistan, he said that the basis of all rehabilitation work relies on digital infrastructure built on telecommunications.

“Jazz also works with the government to find innovative and technological solutions to facilitate rehabilitation. Finding a mechanism that accurately, quickly, and securely distributes funds is crucial, and the role of mobile financial services is paramount in making this happen,” he added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022