Tigo Pesa customers in Tanzania pocket $2.3M in quarterly profit share

Last week was a good week for Tigo Pesa user after they were paid a total of $2.3m as profit share paid every quarter by Tanzania’s leading digital lifestyle telecom.

This is the eighth time that Tigo is disbursing the quarterly payment to its mobile money users – a practice the company became the first telecom in the world to introduce in July 2014.

According to a press statement issued by the telecom today, the company got quarterly profit share growth of 18% with payment to customers rising from $2m/- for the quarter ending December 2015 to $2.3m/- that the company is paying out for the quarter ending March 2016.

Cumulatively, Tigo Pesa users have earned $18.5m/- in profit share since the scheme started. The payment is profit accruing in the Tigo Pesa Trust accounts held with major commercial banks in the country, according to Tigo Head of Mobile Financial Services Ruan Swanepoel.

The profit share recipients individual customers, retail agents and other Tigo business partners who each receive payment based on the e-value they stored in their Tigo Pesa wallets,” Ruan says in the statement.

“We are really excited to be announcing this increased profit share distribution for the eighth successive time. This underlines our commitment to provide financial access to our customers and the country at large through our Tigo Pesa services,” Ruan says.

He attributes the increased profitability to Tigo’s to improved market condition and steady growth in the number of Tigo Pesa users, in particular from the merchant segment. Tigo Pesa currently has the largest network of over 50,000 merchants

As before, according to Ruan, the return to customers is calculated based on Tigo Pesa customers’ average daily balance stored in their mobile wallet adding that this profit share distribution scheme is in line with the Central Bank Circular issued in February 2014.