M-Gurush, South Sudan’s mobile money provider has launched an international remittance service targeting South Sudanese nationals in East African countries.
The service operates using a USSD code and will enable customers to send money from other mobile money platforms such as M-Pesa in Kenya and MTN in Uganda.
m-Gurush has also partnered with Zain to provide the services which will allow customers to send money directly to the recipient’s bank account or mobile wallet.
Joseph Arinaitwe, m-Gurush vice president, said the new service is bound to reduce costs for sending money for business in the East African Community (EAC).
The launch comes at a time when many governments around the world are boosting their efforts in the fight against the Covid-19 Pandemic. Various measures including social distancing and digital money transfers have been put in place to help curb the spread of the disease.
“Our customers can hold money is US Dollars or South Sudanese pounds in their m-Gurush mobile wallets. From there, they can initiate an international remittance through either of the denomination.” Said Mou Ambrose Thiik, m-Gurush‘s chief of operations.
Customers will be able to send this money digitally, either in US dollars or South Sudanese pounds, from their m-Gurush account.
Sub-Saharan African, and South Sudan in particular, is one of the most expensive remittance corridors in the world. It is hoped that this service will bring down the cost of international remittances in South Sudan.
The service can be accessed by customers dialing *355# on the Zain network and also through the m-Gurush application, which can be downloaded from the Google Play Store.
Launched in 2019, m-Gurush has a wide network of agents across South Sudan to enable customers to register, deposit and withdraw money.
The m-Gurush Mobile Money service is offered by Trinity Technologies Limited (TTL) in partnership with Zain. TTL is a local telecommunications company specializing in the design and development of innovative financial services, online transactions and mobile payment systems.
The launch of this remittance service comes at a time where digital money transfer services such as mobile money and electronic banking are being supported by various governments as a way to curb the spread of COVID-19.
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