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.