2022 MoMo Awards: ‘My Kids Pride Links’ wins ultimate prize; over 1000 agents, merchants awarded

Mobile Money (MTN MoMo) Limited, a subsidiary of MTN Ghana on Friday, December 23, crowned the ultimate winner of this year’s MoMo awards.

At the end of the fun night at the Movenpick Ambassador Hotel in Accra, ‘My Kids Pride Links’, owned by Mrs. Abena Dorcas was adjudged the overall winner of the 2022 MoMo Awards.

In 2009, MTN Ghana set out to redefine the course of the country’s financial sector with the launch of MoMo. It has been a little over a decade now and the impact and success stories have been immeasurable thanks to the hard work of all stakeholders including agents and merchants.

Every year, an awards ceremony is held to reward selected agents and merchants whose work standout across the country.

At the night to award the ultimate winner some 400 Agents, 75 Merchants, and 50 Mobile Agents were rewarded for their efforts in the SouthEast Business District which includes Accra.

After awarding various winners, the big moment came when Mrs. Abena Dorcas, the owner of ‘My Kids Pride Links’ climbed the stage to receive her prize as the overall winner of the 2022 MoMo awards.

For her prize, she took home a whopping sum of GHS50,000 plus a brand new motor bicycle.

Speaking after the recognition, Mrs. Abena Dorcas who was overwhelmed with joy expressed her profound appreciation for MTN.

While struggling for words to describe her emotions, she said she is thankful to God that after working hard, she has finally won the top award.

“In 2019 I attended the awards ceremony and I was just sitting there [At Alisa Hotel] and wondering when it will be my turn. With determination, hard work, and perseverance I have also been crowned the overall winner. It’s by the Grace of God and I’m grateful,” Mrs. Abena Dorcas said.

Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the awards night, she admonished other agents and merchants to work hard to promote MTN Mobile Money and strive to satisfy customers at all times to stand a chance of bagging awards next year.

Currently, there are over 276,000 agent points across all sixteen regions of the country and over 240,000 merchants who accept MoMo for payments for goods and services.

With 12.6 million subscribers nationwide, MTN Mobile Money remains the leader in the sector as it contributes immensely to driving a cash-lite economy.

More on the 2022 MoMo awards:
Over the last few weeks, there has been an awards ceremony in Kumasi to reward vendors from the regions of the North, Bono, Bono East, Ahafo, and Ashanti regions.

In addition, there was a similar exercise in Takoradi to recognise the work of vendors (Agents, Merchants, and Mobile Agents) following an assessment of their work from January to October 2022.

In all, one thousand MoMo Agents, 125 Merchants, and 200 Mobile Agents across the country have been recognised and awarded.

The prizes given out to the winners include Motor Bikes, Smart TVs, Laptops, CCTV Cameras, etc.

In his address, the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Mobile Money Limited, Mr. Shaibu Haruna stressed that his outfit places a lot of importance on awarding agents and merchants.

He noted that despite the challenges presented by the introduction of the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy), agents and merchants worked hard to satisfy customers.

“Today’s event is very important because of the unique challenges the industry has gone through this year. It has been a challenging year with the introduction of e-levy, the challenges our customers have had with accessing their MoMo wallets during the sim barring exercise, and the challenging economic environment we find ourselves in. These issues put a lot of pressure on the entire business. However, while we continue to face these challenges, we enthusiastically serve our customers with joy and pride.

“It is therefore very critical that we celebrate those who through the challenges are still able to achieve set targets without resting on their oars,” Mr. Shaibu Haruna shared.

What next for MTN MoMo:
In his address, CEO Shaibu Haruna disclosed that the future for MoMo looks very bright despite the varying challenges the industry is faced with.

He assured that he has come in as CEO having been a key supporter and partner of MoMo over the past years to continue driving the transitioning of MoMo to a full platform business as part of our Ambition 2025 strategy.

He announced that in the next phase of MoMo, they will be driving innovation around ecosystem, remittance, insurance, and bank services closer to customers.

“I am counting on your unwavering support to continue building on the successes and strides we have made in the coming years to make MTN MoMo the most preferred digital payment platform in Ghana,” Mr. Shaibu Haruna said in an appeal to MoMo agents and merchants.

Dealing with fraud:
The CEO of Mobile Money Limited while touching on fraud indicated that his outfit cannot do it alone.

He hence called on agents and merchants to be on the lookout and follow all rules to seal the loopholes until the issue of fraud becomes a thing of the past.

“It is particularly important that as partners in the business we keep engaging and respecting the rules of engagement to succeed. The issue of fraud prevention is particularly important in our operations and as partners, we continue to count on your support in educating customers and recording Zero fraud cases in your operations,” Mr. Haruna added.

In his concluding remarks, he wished agents, merchants, MoMo users, and all stakeholders a “Merry Christmas and a happy new year to you all” while adding, “May the coming year usher us into seasons of success in our business and other live endeavors.”