NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Monday, March 24, 2014

MOBILE money is playing an increasing role in disaster recovery efforts as shown by the initial projects undertaken in the aftermath of Typhoon Yolanda.

This development has caught the interest of relief agencies of the United Nations, as well as other international humanitarian agencies, who are studying the experience of the Philippines in disaster response.

“We at Smart find it very gratifying to be involved in the difficult but vital work of helping revive the communities devastated by Yolanda and other natural disasters. We are happy that, aside from providing badly needed communications links, we are finding innovative ways of applying the mobile money technologies to help the recovery effort,” said PLDT and Smart president and CEO Napoleon L. Nazareno before a global audience at the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last month.