Smartphones Becoming Income Tools for Ghana’s Informal Workers — M-KOPA
Affordable smartphones are helping Ghana’s informal workers earn a living and grow their businesses, M-KOPA, an African fintech company, has said.
According to the company, smartphones are no longer just communication tools but have become a means of expanding businesses and improving incomes.
The General Manager of M-KOPA Ghana, Ms Chioma Agogo, said affordability remained the biggest barrier for low-income earners and informal-sector workers.
In an interview with the Ghanaian Times on the company’s operations and smartphone adoption among informal-sector workers in Ghana, she outlined opportunities for attracting investment in local smartphone production.
M-KOPA provides financing for smartphones, electric motorbikes and digital financial services to underserved populations, particularly low-income earners and people with irregular incomes.
Ms Agogo cited Kenya’s experience, where M-KOPA opened Africa’s largest smartphone assembly factory in 2023, which now employs more than 450 people.
“That was made possible by the country’s move to zero-rate locally manufactured phones — a model that could be adapted to Ghana’s own market realities,” she stated.
She noted that Ghana could attract similar investments by combining targeted fiscal incentives with access to infrastructure, skilled labour and a supportive business environment.
She proposed temporary tax and import-duty concessions, alongside partnerships with existing and prospective investors, to encourage local smartphone production.
Beyond manufacturing, Ms Agogo said M-KOPA was already contributing to job creation and digital inclusion in Ghana.
The company, she emphasised, had created livelihoods for more than 4,000 sales agents and built a customer base exceeding one million.
On smartphone adoption, Ms Agogo explained that the growing use of mobile money and digital financial services had made smartphones increasingly important to people seeking to improve their livelihoods.
“Smartphones are no longer just communication tools. For people in the informal sector, they are becoming a means of expanding businesses and improving incomes,” she said.
She indicated that traders, artisans, food vendors, transport operators and other small business owners were increasingly using smartphones to communicate with customers, advertise their products, reach suppliers and receive payments.
According to her, 55 per cent of M-KOPA’s customers used their smartphones to generate income, while 54 per cent reported earning more as a result.
She said about half of the company’s more than one million smartphone customers in Ghana were accessing such devices for the first time.
Ms Agogo cited the example of Seth, an excavator operator who struggled to find work while using a basic phone.
After acquiring a smartphone through M-KOPA, he began taking photographs of his work and sharing them on WhatsApp, attracting calls from prospective customers.
“His experience shows how access to a smartphone can open up new opportunities for people who would otherwise struggle to market their skills,” she said.
She added that affordability remained a major obstacle, particularly for workers with irregular incomes, as the cost of devices and internet access could prevent them from fully participating in the digital economy.
To address that challenge, M-KOPA offers flexible instalment plans, refurbished smartphones and affordable data packages through partnerships with telecommunications operators.
Ms Agogo also called for stronger collaboration among the government, telecommunications operators, financial institutions, fintech companies and device manufacturers to develop affordable smartphones and digital services tailored to the needs of informal-sector workers.
“No single player can deepen device affordability alone. It requires strong partnerships across the wider ecosystem,” she emphasised.
BY KINGSLEY ASARE
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