Samuel Kallon 
Africa 24 news
By Hassan I. Conteh
Afrimoney and MiKashBoks have launched a mobile savings app in a partnership described as: “a game changer” for Africell’s customers in Sierra Leone.
Speaking at the launching ceremony at Africell’s Wilberforce office in Freetown, Nafisa Jones, MiKashBoks’ Marketing and Communications Lead, highlighted the unique attributes of the cash saving product.
“The cash box is open to everybody; it allows all android mobile features. All you need to do is to simply download the app on your phone,” she said.
“This partnership is a ‘game changer for all customers’ in Sierra Leone,” says Nafisa Jones.
The event was held on Thursday February 22, 2024.
She added that customers could use iphones or basic feature phones by simply dialing up *352 to sign up to the app.
Ms Jones says they have got about 7,000 customers using MiKashBoks (Cashbox).
“It is safe and simple; it’s a financial saving app.”
“It makes it safe for individuals and groups,” she explained further.
MiKashBoks is a digital saving app which invites group members and private persons to open up their accounts using the app.
Nafisa says the product is: Osusu na u phone ( which means, a digital cash saving method by a person with a phone through a mobile app).
“We are not replacing traditional features of Osusu but by using MiKashBoks what is disappearing [in our system] is Osusu master walking away with your money,” says Afrimoney Managing Director, Martison Obeng-Agyei.
The mobile cash app, he went on, doesn’t cost you too much money by going to the bank paying for kekeh or okada ( motor bikes). “With MiKashBoks, you keep your money in your phone anywhere you go and Afrimoney now wants to guarantee you that your money is always safe with us,” says Obeng-Agyei.
He said both business partners are legally registered with the Bank of Sierra Leone and so they have licensees to doing financial transactions in the country.
“It is not just about saving your money; it is the convenience and the ease it has to come with.”
On the apps’ security, the mobile app owners have repeatedly said the mobile product is strictly encrypted in order to prevent fraudsters from tampering it.
MiKashBoks or Cashbox is a mobile app which helps Sierra Leoneans to save money through the digital product, the business partners’ brochure emphasizes.
In the booklet, the partners assured their potential Osusu cash depositors, stating in the brochure: “We make it easier and safer for individuals and groups to save and earn interest, using our ‘Osusu Na Yu Phone’ and Personal Cashbox’ features.
Joe Abass Bangura, Africell’s Chief Corporate Officer, says: “MiKashBoks is here to stay; Africell has been devoting our energy to making this partnership successful.”
