In this exclusive interview, Muhereza Kyamutetera, Executive Editor of CEO East Africa Magazine, sits down with Jemima to explore her journey at MTN MoMo, the key milestones she has achieved, and the future of mobile money in an era of rapid technological advancement. From launching digital lending and virtual card solutions to pioneering financial literacy initiatives, Kariuki reflects on the challenges, triumphs, and vision that propels MTN MoMo forward.
You’ve now been at MTN MoMo for two years. What has this journey been like for you?
If I could describe it in one word, I would say—exhilarating! No singular day is the same -each one presents new challenges and opportunities, making this role both dynamic and fulfilling. The past two years have stretched me beyond what I thought was possible, pushing me to adapt, innovate, and grow as a leader.
Immersing myself in the digital finance space in Uganda has been remarkable. I’ve learned how Ugandans interact with financial technology, understood their pain points, and designed solutions to meet their evolving needs. I’ve had to unlearn assumptions, embrace new perspectives and nuances, and collaborate with teams to drive meaningful impact.
Leading my team through this transformation has been and continues to be invaluable. We’ve built strong internal synergies and aligned our efforts towards impact. Seeing my team grow and embrace new challenges has been fulfilling. We aim to grow holistically and be better versions of ourselves each day.
Looking ahead, the future of MTN MoMo is bright. We’ve laid a strong foundation, and I’m eager to see how we continue to push boundaries and shape the future of digital finance in Uganda.
What are some of the key milestones you’ve achieved since stepping into this role?
My key focus areas have been driving innovation, enhancing financial inclusion, and strengthening our market presence.
We’ve introduced and enhanced various services, such as the Virtual Card, our Digital lending marketplace, and different payment services, based on extensive customer research. Strategic partnerships with banks, insurance providers, schools and merchants has elevated our brand positioning with customers.
For instance, the MoMo for Business platform has empowered small businesses with seamless payment processing, airtime sales, and credit access, significantly increasing MSME adoption.
Consumer campaigns like Win School Fees for a Year and Wesotinge have provided financial relief and promoted financial literacy.
Our customer base has grown, and MoMo now offers a greater suite of products for your everyday life. Payments, savings, cross-border transfers, business transactions, Name it! To see everything come together has been the biggest win for me.
Has the vision for MTN MoMo evolved over the past two years?
To a larger extent – No and here is why.
We live in a constantly changing environment, right? – But our needs remain constant: food, education, and business growth. Our overall vision to unlock economic growth and drive digital and financial inclusion is the compass and core of what we do daily.
Initially, our focus was on expanding digital financial services for convenience and accessibility. However, over the past two years, we’ve evolved to focus on holistic financial empowerment, digitization, and sustainability.
We’ve moved from financial transactions to a comprehensive suite of solutions catering to diverse needs. Our ambition is to ensure every MoMo user is financially empowered through credit, savings, or investment opportunities.
We’ve integrated financial services with lifestyle needs, envisioning MoMo as a lifestyle enabler supporting everyday payments, e-commerce, digital loans, and insurance. We aim to make MoMo an essential part of everyday life.
Hyper-personalization is crucial, and we’re using data analytics and AI to offer tailored products. Our long-term vision is to make MoMo an intuitive financial partner that anticipates and provides relevant solutions in real time.
Our approach to partnerships has evolved to collaboration with banks and other fintech players. We’ve expanded partnerships to include microfinance, Investment, Insurance companies and global payment networks, providing customers with wider financial services.
Our vision has transformed from a mobile money service to a complete digital financial ecosystem that empowers customers, businesses, and communities to achieve financial success in a rapidly changing world.
What are the major highlights for MTN MoMo in Q1 2025?
We have started the year strong. We launched two big campaigns in January- “Win School fees for a year” and Wesotinge (loan) campaigns. In the school fees campaign, school fees payers stand a chance to win school fees for a full year.
The Wesotinge campaign was a big hit with the public last year. Osmosis is back, and he continues to unpack our loan propositions, leading with our new loan product, MoMo Advance. The product is a true differentiator as it allows customers to complete a transaction, be it a payment, sending money or buying a bundle with no balance.
We’ve also recently launched a virtual card that allows customers to instantly create a virtual Mastercard accepted globally. By dialling *165*70#, one gets to instantly create the card, top it up and pay for Netflix, Amazon, SHEIN and other international and local merchants.
Which key metrics or milestones best illustrate the growth of MoMo during this period?
Our total customer base growth trajectory is positive, but what we are most proud of is that our customers are doing more with MoMo. Whereas the key interaction before was depositing and withdrawing at agent points, we are now seeing more customers making payments with MoMo at supermarkets, paying Yaka and water bills, sending money both locally and abroad and many other use cases.
The school fees campaign has been one of the standout initiatives. What inspired this campaign?
Education is a necessity & we are treating it as such We earn the trust of parents and guardians when it comes to paying school fees by giving them a secure, convenient, and guaranteed mode of payment. Gone are the days when parents would have to queue at the bursar office to make cash payments and painful reconciliation processes for schools. Our proposition, in partnership with aggregators, allows for seamless payment on the MoMo app and USSD, as well as digitisation at the school level.
To reinforce this trust and deepen our connection with customers, MTN MoMo launched the Win School Fees for a Year campaign. This initiative was designed to give back to our customers, drive loyalty, and position MTN MoMo as an integral partner of the back-to-school season—a time filled with both anticipation and financial commitment anxiety. While not a traditionally celebratory season, it holds deep significance for families striving to secure a bright future for their children.
How has the campaign performed so far in terms of adoption and impact?
The campaign has had impressive growth, with all key metrics increasing by more than 30% in the first two months. We are most proud of adding new school fees payers, which is a testament to MTN MoMo reaching more users who were previously in the cash economy.
What improvements or expansions can we expect for this service in the future?
Our goal is to make school fee payments not just seamless but also a gateway to broader digitisation in the education sector. We are looking to enhance the service with use cases around pocket money handling, school fees loans and others.
Can you tell us more about the Wesootinge initiative and how it encourages savings?
Sort Yourself out! – That’s what I learnt the phrase means. The campaign is an initiative to raise awareness on digital loans and savings products by MTN MoMo in partnership with licensed financial institutions. We offer a marketplace where customers have the opportunity to select the right loan product for them. The products vary in loan limits, tenure and charges and the power is given to the customer to choose what suits their needs.
The campaign is designed to also empower customers with the knowledge and tools they need to save, borrow responsibly, and grow their financial assets, which furthers our commitment to financial inclusion.
Fired-Up! Charles Mudiwa's 2024 Big dfcu Bank Turnaround What has been the response from users so far?
The campaign has received an overwhelmingly positive response. By leveraging a mix of mainstream media, social media engagements, and on ground campaign activations, the campaign has successfully captured the attention of both existing and potential customers.
Through the multi-channel engagements, customers have actively participated in discussions, shared testimonials, and given valuable insights and preferences, allowing for improved service delivery.
How does MoMo ensure the security and reliability of digital savings for its users?
Our commitment is to provide a safe, reliable, and transparent digital savings platform. Our approach to security and trust is built on four key pillars:
- Strong Security Measures- We use advanced security features to keep customer funds and personal information safe, includingSecure PIN Protection,Data Encryption and Fraud Monitoring
- Regulatory Compliance and Trusted Partnerships by working with only licensed financial institutions, i.e. NCBA Bank, Postbank, KCB Bank and others.
- Reliable, Transparent, and Accessible Savings- We ensure customers can save, track, and withdraw their money with ease through clear interest earnings, anytime access and 24/7 system monitoring.
- Customer Awareness and Support- We educate customers on safe digital financial practices through financial literacy programs and fraud awareness campaigns. Customers are encouraged to keep their PINs private to protect their accounts, double-check transaction details before confirming, and deport any suspicious activity immediately for quick action.
The virtual card by MoMo is transforming digital payments. How does it work, and what makes it unique?
We introduced Pay with MoMo services in 2018, allowing customers to pay for their goods and services conveniently on *165*3# and the MoMo app. This, however, limits payments to local merchants, which means customers could not use MoMo outside the country or to pay international merchants.
By introducing the Virtual card by MoMo, we allow customers to create a card instantly by dialling *165*70#, top it up, and use it to checkout at any global merchant, e.g. Netflix, Amazon, SHEIN, Apple, Google etc.
What has been the uptake of this service, and what feedback have you received?
The uptake of the Virtual Card by MoMo is promising, with strong early adoption from customers. We’ve surpassed our projected numbers since the product launch two weeks ago.
We are excited to see where our partnership with Mastercard will take us, there’s a lot more innovative products in the pipeline.
What new features or services should customers look forward to in the coming months?
We have a long list of exciting products planned for rollout this year, cutting across different sectors which MTN MoMo was yet to permeate. We are determined to become a way of life, allowing customers to feel comfortable leaving their homes with just their phones in their pockets and no cash in their wallets. We are driven by our belief that every Ugandan deserves a modern, connected life and strive to drive leading digital solutions and financial access for the underserved.
How does MoMo ensure that its products remain relevant and accessible to all users, especially the youth?
We never deploy untested products. It’s a rule!
Our product development starts with understanding customers’ needs and pain points. We collaborate with customers, testing and iterating to ensure solutions solve tangible problems. We apply design thinking methodology, continuously testing desirability, feasibility, and viability at each stage, with an open option to sunset the product should it fall short of the defined success metric.
The youth segment is crucial for us. Our larger customer base is above the youth bracket, so we must engage younger audiences to stay relevant. The youth have unique needs, being highly digital, entrepreneurial, and socially conscious. Many seek impact through ventures rather than traditional careers.
To attract this segment, we are prioritizing financial literacy, early savings, investments and payments. Virtual Card by MoMo is specifically tailored for digital-native consumers. Many young people are gamers, online shoppers, and digital service users, but are hesitant to use traditional bank cards online. Our Virtual Card lets them top up via MTN MoMo and make secure transactions across platforms. We aim to integrate MoMo into youth lifestyles by exploring use cases that align with their needs and behaviours. Our goal is for young people to see MTN MoMo as a financial tool and platform that understands and serves them.
How is MTN MoMo evolving to better serve businesses, and what solutions are being developed?
Businesses are crucial to us, and we recognize many still don’t see MoMo’s full relevance. Traditionally, MoMo was seen as consumer service, but we’re changing that by introducing tailored business solutions.
Our key initiative is MoMo for Business, which lets business owners use MoMo collected from customers to perform other services, like paying suppliers, selling airtime, paying salaries, and bills, and handling assisted payments for services like Yaka (electricity) and school fees. This earns businesses commissions and streamlines payments.
Another focus is digital lending for businesses. Many small businesses, like kiosks or vendors, struggle with cash flow. For example, a shop owner might sell out of bread by mid-morning but lack the capital to restock. We’re developing stock financing solutions that provide short-term loans to buy, sell, and repay the loan while maintaining profit margins. Access to credit is a major barrier for small enterprises, and we aim to bridge this gap with practical financing solutions that support business growth.
Our goal is to make MoMo an indispensable financial tool for businesses, from small vendors to larger enterprises. By integrating solutions like digital lending and business-specific payment services, we want business owners to see MoMo as a reliable partner in their growth journey.
What are the biggest challenges and opportunities in the future of mobile money and digital finance?
The biggest challenge we face is keeping up with rapidly evolving technology. The rise of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and advanced data analytics is reshaping the financial industry. A new player with a strong AI-driven solution could disrupt the market overnight. This raises the question: Are we ready? We need to ensure that our technical teams are well-equipped with AI and data analytics skills to maintain a competitive edge.
Additionally, we are looking at expanding into sectors such as insurance through partnership with licensed institutions. Africa has one of the lowest insurance penetration rates globally—only about 1% of the population is insured. We see a major opportunity to provide micro-insurance solutions through MoMo, covering areas like health and life insurance. For example, hospital cash solutions could support customers financially when they are admitted to a hospital. The goal is to make insurance more accessible and relevant to everyday users.
On the macro level, Uganda’s economy is stable, and the digital finance industry is growing. Our key priority is to stay ahead by continuously innovating and ensuring that we offer services that meet both current and future customer needs. Investing in research and development will be critical in preparing for future disruptions and opportunities in the industry.
What have been the biggest leadership lessons you’ve learned in your role?
I’ve learnt many things in the last two years. My key takeaways- Being comfortable with the unknown; trusting the process; and the value of forming meaningful connections.
I’ve also learnt that perception is reality as far as customers are concerned. Corrective action is needed to change what is perceived to be true at all costs.
How do you keep yourself and your team motivated in such a fast-moving industry?
We are lucky to work in an industry that is not mundane. No day is the same; there’s always a problem to fix or a challenge to overcome. My team of product managers, like myself, remains self-motivated when given space to ideate and innovate. We run weekly design and ideation sessions where the team is free to be creative and often conduct offsite workshops to thoroughly thrash out problem statements.
What is one piece of advice you would give to young professionals aspiring to work in fintech?
They should get up to speed with the ever-changing world of Fintech. I would encourage them to take up professional courses that arm them with the necessary skills for product management, such as Design thinking certification, Data analytics, AI and Machine Learning, and UX design and Project Management certification, among others.
On soft skills, I would advise that they start practising good communication. I’m a believer that a lot of problems can be solved by good communication. I learnt early in my career that bad news doesn’t age well with time, and I encourage my team to always feel free to share the good, the bad and the ugly as early as possible to allow for resolution.