New Delhi : AsiaHawala and Comviva have jointly won two awards at the prestigious Telecoms World Award 2019. AsiaHawala mobile money service was declared winner in the ‘Best Emerging Market Initiative’ and ‘Digital Transformation Award- Vendor’ categories. The awards were presented on September 24th, 2019 at The Conrad Hotel in Dubai, UAE during the Telecoms World Middle-East Summit. AsiaHawala and Comviva have also bagged the Customer Experience Asia Excellence Awards 2019, where they won Silver in two categories “Best Use of Mobile 2019” and “Best Digital Experience 2019”.

AsiaHawala, launched in December 2005, is Iraq’s first mobile money service which is powered by Comviva’s mobqiuity® platform. AsiaHawala leverages mobile phones to provide quick, convenient and cost-effective digital financial services to the financially underserved consumers and create a digital economy.

AsiaHawala is an inclusive digital service. The only prerequisite for using AsiaHawala is mobile phone with Asiacell connection; hence the service can be used by all, even unbanked consumers. It can be accessed by all phones – feature phones or smartphones via USSD or mobile app. With AsiaHawala mobile wallet, customers can do multiple financial transactions – transfer money, receive financial-aid, get salary, receive pension,  give donations, pay bills, pay merchants, shop online, top-up mobile and internet connection, purchase e-vouchers, book flight tickets and make cab payments, all using their mobile phone anytime, anywhere. To facilitate registration and last-mile services of cash-in and cash-out, AsiaHawala has established a network of over 1000 agents spread across Iraq.

 

Commenting on the win, Mr. Zring Faruk, Chief Executive Officer, AsiaHawala said, “We are very excited that Telecoms World has recognised us with two awards. Our strength lies in our ability to serve diverse consumer segments. On one hand, AsiaHawala has facilitated financial aid disbursement to over 200,000 households covering approximately 1 million internally displaced people and refugees. On the other hand, it has enabled Iraqi youth (millennial and Gen-Z consumers) to top-up internet, shop online and purchase e-vouchers, and experience the digital revolution just like their peers in other countries. AsiaHawala is leveraging technology to enable digital payments and eventually helping to rebuild Iraq.”

 

Ramy Moselhy, Vice President and Head of MENA region at Comviva said, “We are glad that we are playing a part in AsiaHawala’s digital transformation journey, which is providing peace and convenience to millions of people through safe and secure mobile money services, anytime and anywhere. These awards also validate our ability to innovate and rise to the occasion in challenging conditions in any part of the world. We believe that the intersection of business and technology opens new opportunities for digital transformation, while doing social good. We are very pleased that our mobiquity® Money is leading the way in digitizing societies and impacting lives of millions.”

 

AsiaHawala is powered by Comviva’s mobiquity® platform. It delivers a host of digital financial services that transforms the way consumers save, borrow, transfer and pay. It is designed to seamlessly integrate consumer touch points with a wide ecosystem of banks, billers, merchants and third-party payment systems, creating a convergence powered by interoperability. Apart from delivering convenience to consumers, the solution enables financial service providers to acquire new customers, create long-term loyalty with existing ones, and seize new revenue opportunities to increase their footprint in the market. The platform empowers financial service providers to be agile in their markets, with complete focus on the customers. mobiquity® has clocked over 70 deployments in more than 50 countries. It serves 110 million customers globally and processes more than 6.5 billion transactions every year amounting to over $130 billion annually.