A US based Ugandan has launched a cross-border Mobile Money Platform called Chipper Cash. Chipper Cash Wallet transactions will be free of charge across borders.
Transferring money across borders has been mainly dominated by Western Union and Moneygram. Western Union for is the biggest money transfer provider worldwide and gives you many ways to transfer funds. However, Moneygram possesses the speed advantage. You can send cash to an agent location abroad within minutes. However, all these are expensive options, especially in a market used to cheaper Mobile money transactions.
These services have exchange rates with markups of roughly 1% to 6%, and sending fees for $1,000 may range between $0 and $95 depending on where and how you transfer money. A cross-border mobile money platform could really save the people if its low on costs.
Mobile Money is a mobile payments system based on accounts held by a mobile operator and accessible from subscribers’ mobile phones. All Mobile Money transactions are authorised and recorded in real-time using SMS.
Vodafone developed M-PESA and was first deployed by its Kenyan affiliate Safaricom. It saw an almost instant success after registering an estimated 15 million customers in Kenya in 2012. Only 3 years after launch. Mobile money platforms went viral on the African continent with major Telecoms coming up with their own versions of the service. However, most of them kept away from international money transfers.
The good news is a new cross-border mobile money platform is hitting the market. Through it, users can send and receive money from foreign countries at no cost. You wouldn’t bet something like this would be possible moments ago.
The Chipper Cash Cross-Border Mobile Money Platform
A Ugandan, Ham Sserunjogi who is currently based in California has launched Chipper Cash, a cross-border mobile money platform. The app will enable users send money across borders at exactly zero cost. Also, it will enable users to send and receive money from one telecom to another, say from Africell to MTN Uganda.
“Chipper Cash will facilitate completely free and instantaneous peer-to-peer payments, both within a country as well as from one country to another,” said Mr. Sserunjogi. He also told Chimp Reports that the app is already live in Uganda and Tanzania.
Next destinations of Chipper Cash include Kenya, Ghana and later on in the land of thousand hills, Rwanda. In Uganda, Chipper Cash supports payments from Airtel, MTN and Africel, which are the major mobile money platforms. Users can send and receive money across all these mobile money platforms using Chipper Cash, any time, at no cost.
How to sign up for Chipper Wallet
- Download the Chipper Cash app from Google Play Store or the Apple Store.
- Open the app and enter your mobile number starting with the country code in the form of +2567******** and click continue.
- Enter the 6 digit code you receive on your provided number and continue.
- Enter your first and last name and press “Next”.
- Choose your primary currency and continue.
- Your Chipper Wallet Account will be successfully created.
However, you must allow Chipper Cash to access your contacts in the next screen. You then get your welcome bonus of UGX 500.
“Chipper allows users to connect their mobile money accounts to their Chipper wallets and send that money to anyone else in the same country (even on another network), or to another country that we support, with no transaction or exchange rate fees, or the 1% tax,” Serunjogi said.
How to Add Cash to Your Chipper Wallet Account.
- Navigate to the profile section of the app by swiping from right to left.
- Click ‘Add Cash”
- You will then have to link your mobile money account to the Chipper Cash app by selecting your mobile money provider.
- You then need to enter your Mobile Money number.
- Enter the amount you want to add to Chippper Cash Wallet from your mobile money account.
- Wait for confirmation and enter PIN to confirm.
Sending Money from your Chipper Cash Wallet
Sending money from your Chipper cash wallet happens at a zero cost. However, your mobile money provider will charge you a small fee when adding cash to your Chipper Cash Wallet. To send money;
- Navigate to the “Select Recipient” section of the app and select the receiver’s mobile money number.
- Enter the amount and reason for the transfer and press pay.
- Your payment will then be sent.
The recipient will receive an SMS notification showing the amount received. The SMS includes a link to downloading the app if the user does not have it installed already.
The best part is you don’t have to have a lot of knowledge about the intricacies of the Forex exchange market because the app does it for you automatically.
