<<Print>>

Mr Nvalaye Kouroma, Chief Executive Officer Afric Xpress Ghana, an electronic payment solution provider focused on mobile payments, has said the company is taking steps to increase the number of agents across the country to ensure that many more people benefit from its payment and transfer services. The company in April signed a deal with the Ghana National Chemical Sellers Association under which members will transact businesses with customers using the txtNpay mobile phone electronic platform. Under the partnership agreement concluded in Accra the over 10,000 members of the association nationwide would act as agents for Afric Xpress in the various communities in which they operate. �It is the desire of the company to reach as many Ghanaians with its services once they are hooked to a mobile network,� Mr Kouroma told customers and agents at a reception at the weekend ahead of a Board meeting in Accra. �Our expectation is to see people in the remotest part of the country turning up at an agent�s shop and getting money sent to them by their children in the city,� he added. The company hit the Ghanaian market in 2008 announcing its mission of introducing a fast, reliable and convenient electronic-based payment system to transform lifestyles through its txtNpay secured mobile phone-based payment system. The system allows users to send money to any other person with a mobile phone, pay utility bills, purchase goods and services, buy pre-paid phone credits, check their bank account balance and engage in many more transactions with their phones. The �txtNpay� technology uses an application which is SMS-based and essentially consists of an electronic platform that is directly accessed from the customer�s mobile handset. Mr Kouroma said the product had made it easier for clients to use their mobile phones to make payment or transfer money to local banks, utility companies, internet service providers, hospitality institutions and tertiary institutions, among others. �Our company�s mission is to bring transformational and innovative mobile phone-based payment solutions to the Ghanaian market and subsequently the rest of West Africa in order to build an electronic payment network which will virtually turn every mobile phone into a payment device,� he said. Mr Keith Keenam, a board member, said the meeting would be used to give strategic direction to enhancing operations in the country through improved quality and efficient services delivery.