MTN Mobile Money Targets Industrial Parks in Cashless Payments Drive

What the report says

MTN Mobile Money is seeking to widen cashless payments across Uganda’s industrial parks, with a focus on manufacturers, farmers, transport operators and other businesses. According to Nile Post, the company is proposing to supply mobile money-enabled devices, SIM cards and pre-installed payment applications, with the cost payable in instalments to make adoption easier for businesses that may be reluctant to invest upfront.

The proposal was discussed in a meeting between Minister of State for Privatisation and Investment Aminah Mukalazi and an MTN Mobile Money delegation led by General Manager Phrase Lubega. The company said it is already visiting industrial parks to promote digital transactions and wants to build on existing work with partners such as Kiira Motors, where it provides cashless services for electric buses. It also outlined interest in merchant lending and bulk payment tools that work across mobile money networks.

Mukalazi welcomed the idea, saying digital payments can improve transaction security and broaden access to financial services, but she stressed that public trust remains a major hurdle, especially among farmers, market vendors and other cash-based users. She encouraged MTN to extend its services to farmers’ cooperatives and to reach sectors beyond industrial parks, including transport and agriculture.

The discussions also touched on payment safeguards such as transaction reversals, as well as efforts to extend digital financial services to refugee settlements. The broader aim is to deepen the use of digital payments in Uganda’s business sector and reduce reliance on cash.