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

The UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) is embarking on a joint historic project with Our Telekom to launch mobile money services in Solomon Islands in efforts to boost financial inclusion and transform the digital payments ecosystem in the country.

The product targets individuals and businesses, with an overarching aim to integrate the country’s sizeable rural population, including youths, women and micro-enterprises, into the mainstream urban economy. This has often been challenging due to the limited presence and reach of commercial banking services in rural Solomon Islands and the inadequate availability of tailored financial products for the everyday consumer, especially the financially excluded.

At present, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu are the only Pacific Island countries with mobile money services. The Solomon Islands product will be designed to provide customers with a convenient and safe way to send, receive, deposit, withdraw and save money in electronic form, redeemable in cash from registered agents around the country. It will also enable smoother and more efficient payments across the country.

Photo courtesy of Asian Development Bank.