UNCDF is pleased to announce the partnership with Digicel’s CellMoni to support the expansion of their agent network and grow the number of CellMoni users. Usage of this mobile money network can support the growth of a digital economy in the Sepik Region to make electronic payment a reality.

In addition to the grant funding, UNCDF will also provide to Digicel’s CellMoni technical support, focusing on the challenges and opportunities of deploying digital financial services in agricultural value chains.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative, Mr. Dirk Wagener said that “this partnership signing today testifies our close collaboration to improve the access and usage of financial services in the Sepik region by leveraging the current customer penetration and brand recall of Digicel. This is an important partnership whereby Digicel Financial Services and UNCDF will work together to onboard 215 agents and over 100,000 new customers to the formal financial sector using CellMoni”.

Mr. Wagener further said that “The digital revolution has radically transformed global economies: how people work; how supply meets demand; how market information moves; how transactions are processed. This transformation has the potential to make digital economies more inclusive: by making geography and distance less relevant, by lowering barriers to entry, by making work less dependent on one’s ability to be physically present and by expanding financial inclusion, the access of all people to the full suite of responsive and responsible financial services they need to manage life’s risks and seize its opportunities. This partnership will be a game changer and a start towards bringing a digital payment revolution in the Sepik region, as Digicel will use its CellMoni wallet to cover a wider geographical area much beyond the current coverage of conventional banking system”.

Chief Executive Officer of Digicel Financial Services Limited, Mr. Colin Stone, thanked UNCDF’s management and their staff, and said that “Digicel is really excited to embark on this partnership and signing of this agreement as it is a very important milestone for Digicel’s CellMoni.

Mr. Stone said that “Digicel and UNCDF have a shared ambition to make mobile financial services accessible to everyone across Papua New Guinea. Through our partnership, we will enable customers to make CellMoni transactions, benefit from competitive pricing and gain access to other domestically relevant services including bill payments, merchant payments and value-added services such as cash management solutions and loan repayment. Rural and remote areas have always been important for Digicel since the company started their operations in the country. This partnership is an opportunity to continue the work of the last 14 years to connect the unconnected for people in Sepik provinces”.

This partnership is funded by the European Union as part of the ‘Support to Rural Entrepreneurship, Investment and Trade’ (STREIT) programme. As one of the implementor of STREIT, UNCDF aims to support the development of new use-cases, products or business models that could drive outcomes around financial inclusion and the expansion of digital financial services for segments currently left behind, such as smallholder farmers, women entrepreneurs, and other vulnerable segments in the low-income groups.

About Digicel and CellMoni
Digicel PNG through Digicel Financial Services Limited aims to build an inclusive cashless economy by providing everybody the opportunity to benefit from financial tools that can be accessed through their mobile phones.
CellMoni is an electronic wallet that allows Digicel customers and businesses to avail for digital financial services without the need to have a formal bank account. This means facilitating faster and safer financial transactions, that has potential to significantly increase the financial inclusion in the country as well as improve the livelihood of PNG citizens.

About UNCDF
The UN Capital Development Fund makes public and private finance work for the poor in the world’s 46 least developed countries (LDCs).
UNCDF offers ‘last mile’ finance models that unlock public and private resources, especially at the domestic level, to reduce poverty and support local economic development.

UNCDF’s financing models work through three channels: (1) inclusive digital economies, which connects individuals, households, and small businesses with financial eco-systems that catalyze participation in the local economy, and provide tools to climb out of poverty and manage financial lives; (2) local development finance, which capacitates localities through fiscal decentralization, innovative municipal finance, and structured project finance to drive local economic expansion and sustainable development; and (3) investment finance, which provides catalytic financial structuring, de-risking, and capital deployment to drive SDG impact and domestic resource mobilization.