MMU Fund
About the Fund
The MMU Fund has been established to award innovation grants to support commercially viable and sustainable mobile operator led projects in developing counties that contribute to meeting the MMU goal of reaching 20 million previously unbanked people with mobile financial services by 2012.
The Fund seeks to accelerate the development of mobile money services in terms of speed (number of mobile money deployments), scale (number of subscribers), and sophistication (from individual platforms enabling cash transfers, to interoperable platforms enabling savings, credit and insurance).
The specific objectives of the MMU Fund are to support projects that result in:
- Mobile Money for the unbanked becoming considered mainstream business for mobile operators
- Mobile Money services becoming extensively available to those who have been previously unbanked
- Mobile Money extending the reach and reducing the costs of financial services such as savings, insurance, payments and credit to previously unbanked customers
Grants and Eligibility
Funding is available for mobile operators who are GSMA members, and other organisations that work with mobile operators in the provision of financial services (the lead applicant must be a mobile network operator).
The MMU Fund seeks to award grants of US$250,000 each. Applications outside these ranges will also be considered subject to their specific merits and applicants are expected to contribute at least 25 per cent of total project costs.
Through a quick response single stage application process the MMU Fund provides grants to projects that:
- Contribute to providing mobile money services to unbanked customers living on under US$2 per day
- Involve a mobile money service that is innovative, market based and would be accelerated with the support of the MMU Fund
- Are potentially replicable
- Demonstrate considerable opportunity for providing valuable learnings
- Cannot readily obtain commercial finance or other sources of finance (including internal corporate capital allocation)
Applications will be considered for projects in countries worldwide. However, funds will be directed largely by demand and the potential to reach the target customer base, and are expected to include projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Grant Application Process
Applications for MMU Fund funding will be assessed through a single stage application process lasting (on average) no longer than 60 days. The application process involves submission of a simple Application Form which will outline the key aspects of the proposed project and applicant, and demonstrate that they satisfy the eligibility criteria. Applications that are deemed to meet the eligibility criteria will be appraised and approved (or otherwise) by an Independent Assessment Panel whose decision is final.
Further Information
For more information on the MMU Fund and eligibility criteria download the Term Sheet.
To indicate your interest in the MMU Fund and obtain the Concept Note Information Pack, application guidance and materials, please contact mmufund@gsm.org.
