Tanzania Postal Bank: Digital Financial Inclusion Through POPOTE

POPOTE is a mobile banking service offered by the Tanzania Postal Bank (TPB), which enables clients to access information about their account anywhere, anytime, through a mobile phone. This case study examines how TPB has recently leveraged two digital channels – Mobile Banking and Agency Banking – and two devices options – mobile phone and point of sale (POS) devices, to foster financial inclusion in the region.

The paper outlines the following lessons learned and key success factors:

1. Importance of external funding to launch the new digital finance channel;
2. Need for a cultural change within the organization;
3. Collaboration with the postal network;
4. Importance of information dissemination and knowledge sharing;
5. Importance of offering a product with low or no fee, no charge;
6. Importance of adapting products to the context: i.e. working with groups;
7. Importance of an on-going adaptation of the rollout to include on-going new demands (i.e. setting up of an agent as soon as there is unmet demand in a specific location);
8. Need for multiple partnerships to enable service complementarity for a maximized adaptation to the demand;
9. Advantage of leveraging several channels (Mobile Banking and Agency banking) and several device options (mobile phone and POS) to fit different client segments.