1.

1 MTN Uganda is a public limited company, a leader in the telecommunications market in Uganda
with the highest subscriber base at over 11 million customers. It is a subsidiary of MTN Group a
global company whose head office is in Johannesburg, South Africa. MTN Uganda offers Voice, Data,
Mobile Financial Services and Enterprise service solutions to customers.
This marketing plan is for the Mobile Financial Services which refers to the use of a mobile phone
both for mobile banking, mobile payments and remittances. Mobile Money is an electronic wallet
service that enables one to send and receive money using their mobile phone from authorized
mobile money agents and partner ATMs. The Mobile Financial services market in Uganda is at its
growth stage of the PLC and has over 17.6 million customers. MTN Uganda has over 7 million
registered customers, followed by Airtel money at 3.5 million. Over the period from end of June
2013 to the end of June 2014, there were 445.7 million transactions valued at SHS. 22.2 trillion
(About $8.5 billion).
MTN Uganda delivers services to B2C and B2B customers in High Value and Low Value segments. Its
key Stakeholders include BOU, UCC, Mobile Money Agents, Partner licensed institutions and
Customers.

Table 1 Using the TOWS Matrix to Audit the internal and External Environment
for MTN Uganda

Internal Factors

4.

Strength
1. Financial strength with ROI of 210
1.
billion
shillings
annually
(Internal
reports)
2. Strong Channel network over
2.
30,000 active agent networks
3.
3. New enhanced Ericsson Converged
Wallet Solution, platform
4.
4. Market leader with 56% market share

5.

and 7.3 million registered customers

5. Strong MTN brand.(Brandz 100)

1.
2.
3.

External Factors

Weakness
1. Fraud: Mobile money System
manipulation by staff and unlawful
transactions fees.
2. High System downtime
3. Budget cuts in promotional mix
of Mobile Money products
4. Low innovation culture

Opportunities
1. Banking penetration at 3%
against a population of 35m with
75% residing in rural areas
2.
International
Know
Your
Customer (KYC) standards at
account opening
3. GDP expected to grow from
6.9% in 2014 to 15.6% in 2018 due
to Oil production.
4 Future trends; Mobile Money
Applications interface available on
Android and Apple software and
NFC to replace USSD

SO
1. (S2, S3, O1) Reach new markets
using new distribution channels.
2. (S4,S5,O3) Grow market share by
tapping
into
potential
customers
increased disposable income (grow user
share )
3. (S3, O2) - Product development and
CRM system Tailor products to
targeted customer segments in KYC
database.

WO
1. (W1,O2) To minimize future
incidents, customer verification at
all transaction stages with system
generated transaction fees.

Threats

ST

WT

2. (W3,O3) Utilize customers

increase in disposable to income
to increase revenue through cross
selling and upselling existing
products.

Primera Muthoni [MTN Uganda - Marketing]

1. New entrants ; Banks - Equity
Bank and competitors in Telecom:
Airtel Money, Orange Money
2. 10 percent government tax
increase
on
mobile
money
withdrawals in 2014
3. Public distrust of financial
systems
4. Inflation expected to increase to
15% in 2016, due to higher preelection spending.
Customer literacy limits use of DFS

1. (S4,S5,T1) Introduce loyalty

schemes to counter O1
2. (S1,T2) Cost absorption of new
tariff to minimize cost of transaction for
the customer
3. (S3, T3) Positioning the product as
fast and secure.
4. (S2, S3, T4) Reach existing markets
to absorb the increase in customers
disposable income.
5. (S1, T5) Customer education in local
language.

1. (W1, T2) Partner with regulator

BOU
to
tighten
policy
on
Fraudsters.
2. (W3,T5) Use cost effective
media channels to reach target
audience
3. (W2,T3) Stringent SLAs with
system vendors to reduce system
downtime
4. (W4,T5) Top management to
position innovation as priority and
communicate it to all staff

Justified conclusion as to the level of creative thinking with the organization currently.The sources include
internal reports, BOU guideline reports, MMU reports and EIU report.Organizations orientation and justified

2.0 The Marketing Plan

2.1 Vision
MTN Ugandas vision is To lead the delivery of a bold new digital world to our customers
2.2 Mission
MTN Uganda mission is To make our customers lives a whole lot brighter

2.3 Corporate Objectives

Protect and improve MTN Ugandas positions as market leader by acquiring 16.4
million new customers by June 2018
Intensify MTN Ugandas effort to develop new products to increase the sales revenue
from 218 trillion to 300 by June 2018
Expand MTN Ugandas distribution base from 50,000 to 80,000 dealer and agent
network by June 2018.

2.4 Marketing objectives

To grow market share by 30% by June 2016 from 10.6m to 13.8m and 40% in June
2017 from 13.8 m to 19.3m and 2018 from 19.3 to 27.6m
Expand product range to increase the sales revenue from 218 trillion to 300 trillion
from existing and new market segments by June 2018
Generate new revenue from new segment (Low value rural) by 20% amounting to
42.9m by June 2016 and 40% in June 2017 and 2018 amounting to 60.1m and 84.1m
respectively
Expand the distribution base from 50,000 to 80,000 agent networks by June 2018
2.4 Marketing objectives for Mobile Money
To grow market share by 30% by June 2016 from 7.6m to 9.9m and 50% in June 2017
from 9.9 to 10.4 and 2018 from 10.4 to 15.6m
Expand product range to increase the volume of transactions from 300M to 900M
from existing and new market segments by June 2018
Generate new revenue from new segment (Low value rural) by 20% amounting to
42.9m by June 2016 and 40% in June 2017 and 2018 amounting to 60.1m and 84.1m
respectively
Expand the distribution base from 30,000 to 50,000 agent networks by June 2018
3.0 The Marketing Strategy

Primera Muthoni [MTN Uganda - Marketing]

Fig 1 indicates that there is the low penetration at 3% of the banked population compared to the
mobile phone penetration at 55% in Uganda and thus a high growth market potential for Mobile
Financial services. MTN Uganda has the opportunity to develop market penetration and
development strategies with effective market sensing techniques and knowledge management to
achieve superior customer value. MTN could improve customer intelligence gathering using
microblogging sites like twitter and social media sites like Facebook. Part of the approaches to use
are Segmentation, Targeting and positioning.
3.1 Market Segmentation
Segmentation is the process of identifying and analyzing sub-groups of buyers in a product market
with similar response characteristics. (Cravens and Piercy, 2012)
MTN Uganda segmentation will be for consumer and organizational markets. The main benefit of
Mobile Financial services is to enable transfer of money from person to person (P2P) for consumers
and G2P for organizations, so segmentation will be largely defined by customer characteristics and
use situation.

Table 2: Profiling MTN Mobile Money B2B and B2C Customers

B2C

B2C

B2C

B2B

B2B

Segment
s

High Value

Low
Value

New (Low
value)

Multinational

SME's

Characteri
stics

Household income
>SHS.24,000,000

House hold
income
<SHS.2,400
,000

House hold
income <
SHS.500,000

Annual Turnover
SHS.5,000,000,000

SHS.1,200 ,000,000

Age 36 49

Age 26 35

Age 26 35

Urban

Semi
urban

Rural

Global

Local

High Brand loyalty

status

Brand
switching

Brand switching

High Brand loyalty

status

Brand switching

Low price sensitive

High price
sensitive

High price
sensitive

Economic Value

Price Sensitive

Convenience

Availability

Availability

Long DMU process

Short DMU process

Bank Deposits and

Withdraws
> SHS.5,000,000 a
month

Bank
Deposits
and
Withdraws
<SHS.500,0
00

Mobile
Withdraws

Pay wages

Pay wages

International
Remittances and
Mobile Money to
Bank transfer

Saving and
Loans

Merchant Allow
payments using
Mobile Money

Pay Suppliers

Payments Bills
(UtilitiesWater,Energy,Pay

Payments
(Insurance,
Solar Light)

Buyer
needs

Use
Situation

Annual Turnover

< SHS.100,000

Employee Life
Insurance

Primera Muthoni [MTN Uganda - Marketing]

TV),Goods and
services

According to research done by www.fininclusion.org, in reference to Opportunity 1 in Table 1, 75% of

Ugandans reside in rural/remote areas and are engaged in agricultural activities and receive cash
payments for products from their suppliers. The new rural low value segment identified is financially
attractive and stable segment and will be used to influence payments for their products using
Mobile Money in line with SO1 in Table 1.
Targeting
MTN Uganda will use differentiated marketing strategy to target the consumer market namely Low
value segments in rural and urban segments and High Value segments in the urban areas. Here
MTN will appeal to smaller markets with a tailored marketing mix that specifically meets the needs
of each segment of the target audience. The key advantage is that products are tailored to meet the
needs of customers resulting in greater loyalty and repeat purchase however it attracts a higher
cost per contact as economies of scale are lost though this can be mitigated by mass customization.
MTN Uganda will use customized marketing strategy to target organizational markets namely Global
Multinational companies and SMEs, it will involve face to face discussions with customers to
determine their requirements and tailor their services accordingly.
Positioning
MTN Uganda will use corporate name to position the Mobile Money product for both consumer and
organization markets using the 4-Cs frame work to maintain and grow its market leadership in the
Mobile Financial services market.
Clarity: MTN Uganda will achieve this by sending a single message Simple, Secure, Instant to
justify its strong channel network as referenced in Fig 1, supported by the MTN logo and yellow
pantone color which is instantly recognizable and memorable. A Consistent message to articulate
simple to use and secure product with instant transactions will be used. Credibility: As referenced
in Fig 1, MTN Mobile Money will leverage on the strong MTN brand and Competitiveness:
Differential advantage should always be Simple and Secure transaction over the widest channel
network.

Functionality (10)
Brand loyalty (6)

Customer service (9)

Transaction costs (8)

Product range (7)

Agent availability (9)

Convenience (5)

Innovation (8)

Fig 1: A Spiderman positioning map for the Mobile Financial Market

The length of each spoke is proportional to the importance rating of each attribute. Each spoke is
scored up to 10. Functionality is considered an essential attributes by the customers and received a
10 with the least being convenience at 6. MTN received higher perceptual scores than its nearest
competitor Airtel for functionality, Customer service, Agent availability and product range. MTN and

Primera Muthoni [MTN Uganda - Marketing]

Airtel are similarly rated for transaction costs but rated more highly for innovation. As referenced in
WT4 in Table 1, innovation strategy to be designed, implemented and monitored.
4.0 The Marketing Mix
4.1 Product
MTN matches business strength against market attractiveness using GE matrix. Mobile money
range of products includes;
Table 3 The General Electric Market Attractiveness- Business strength Model
for MTN Mobile Money
Business strength
100%
Ma
rke
t
att
rac
tiv
en
ess

Hi
gh

High

Co

B - Buy Airtime
C - Financial Services (Deposit & Withdraw,
International
remittances,
Utility
payments, insurance and Solar)

A
0%

Low
A - Send and Receive (P2P/G2P)

Mediu
m
Low

Medium

D Merchant Payments

100%

0%

Zone 1 Product D Build manage for sales

and market share growth as the market is attractive business strength are high. (Stars) MTN will
invest in building an innovation culture. Invest to increase leadership position. Bringing more
merchants on board
Zone 2 Product A Hold - Manage for profits, consistent with maintaining market share as the
market is not particularly attractive but business strength are high. (Cash Cow)
Zone 3 Product C Build This is the question mark zone, where competitors are weak and build
strategy will be used. Increase investment to turn it into a star
Introduction of Product B would enable customers to buy airtime and Internet bundles directly from
MTN using Mobile money and would be targeted to High value customers looking for convenience
and who are sensitive to ethical issue around saving the environment by printing less Airtime refill
cards.
Open Innovation and crowdsourcing can transform and accelerate new product development.
However, MTN requires a change in the corporate mindset, culture and processes.
4.2 Place
MTN Uganda will maintain a hybrid strategy Channel of distribution that includes both Vertical
Marketing systems and conventional system in delivering Mobile Money Services to add to customer
value in moving the service to the end user using intensive distribution through owned retail shops
called Customer service centers and utilizing a network Contractual Super dealers that cover
geographical areas demarcated into five major regions namely Central, Western, South Western,
Northern and Eastern. The number of dealers is also dependent on the size of market target in the

Primera Muthoni [MTN Uganda - Marketing]

region. The 30,000 agents referenced in the audit in Fig 1 support the dealers. MTN will use SO1 to
use digital channels to sell other MTN products using Mobile money for example recharging
customer airtime and data services to target urban now value and High value customers.
4.3 Price
MTN transaction costs for Mobile Money Services for P2P, Merchant and Bill payments with close
competitor Airtel Money are about the same with the least transaction at SHS.500 and the highest
at SHS.2, 200.However price skimming strategy is used for MTN withdrawal charges from agents
and ATMs where charges are higher than competitors namely Airtel Money, M-sente and Orange
money with the least withdraw charges for MTN at SHS.330 compared to Airtel money at SHS.300
and highest at SHS.35,200 compared to Airtel Moneys SHS.32, 000.The high withdraw charges are
driven by the margins to facilitate mobile money agents in line with the corporate objective to
maintain and grow the agent network. The Economic Value to the customer is availability of a wide
channel network of over 30,000 agents across the country. MTN positions Mobile Money with a high
passive strategy by featuring non price factors like simple and secure quality of service.
4.4 Promotion.
MTN will use an Integrated Marketing communication strategy to manage its communication
initiatives to its internal and external customers and the target audience as they move along the
customer journey from need recognition to purchase. The main objective to increase sales and profit
while increasing the customer base and retaining existing customers.
Table 4 The promotional mix designed to achieve desired results June 2016
June 2018
Promotion composition

Segment

Advertising

Low Value

-To create awareness

Channel

Execution

Radio ads/mentions 15 sec radio ads played during the

morning and
and interviews
Program sponsorshipsevening drive. Weekly interview to
educate

- To advertise new uses

-To reinforce the image of Mobile

on new functionalities

Money Services

Sponsor Money Matter programs on

local
High Value

Language radio
TV

A 60 sec TV commercial in English and

local
Language to be aired on English and
Local
TV stations

Print

Will be used to launch new products uses

for High value Segment only in leading
daily
Newspaper in HPFC.

Personal Selling
-To Increase number of new
accounts

Multinationals
High Value SMEs

Technical Selling

Technical assistance will be given

through
dedicated agent customer helplines

Primera Muthoni [MTN Uganda - Marketing]

-To Retain customers

Merchandising -

-To provide services to customers

Dealers and Agents

Trade selling

and channel members

Product information assistance

Logistical support - Transaction books,
Customer registration forms

Sales Promotion

Low value Rural

Informational activities

Brochures

-To increase sales

Low value Urban

Catalogues

-To provide incentives value chain

Dealers and Agent
participants
network

Trade shows

Incentives

Promotional pricing
Internal Communication
To grow product knowledge

Staff

Intranet

Dealers

Promotion items Key holders

Internal promotion will be carried out

before launch of new products

Increase staff engagement

Innovation portal to encourage staff

submit

Provide agents with information

Feedback from the market

Dealer and Agent of the year awards

Agents

Extranet

Product ideas
Information resources to agents and
agent receive feedback from the market

Digital

High Value

Website

Interactive website

Low value -Urban

Social media

Facebook banners and posts

Use twitter as customer service tool

Public relations

All segments

Press statementsPress release in leading print media and

scialon social media sites like Facebook
and twitter

4.5 People; Training will be given to MTN staff and Agents especially customer facing staff on
products, to understand the appropriate forms of behavior like courtesy and different personality
types. Agents will be trained on fraud detection as referenced in the W1 of the audit.
4.6 Physical Evidence; The customer touch points including but not limited to Customer service
centers, Agent stalls to be properly branded with specialized Mobile Money Tills. All touch points will
have transaction chats in a visible area for customers to see in both English and local language
dependent on the region. Agents will be given MTN branded aprons to be easily recognized. The
mobile phone interface used to transact mobile money will be provided in both English and local
language with an innovation for audio to facilitate People with Disabilities.
4.7 Process; Customer required by law to be registered as reference in audit O2. Customer
registration using agents takes 7 days for the customer details to be entered into the system. The
delay is frustrating for the customer and a one-step registration process will be implemented at
purchase of SIM card. Mobile Money System down time will be communicated using text SMS to all
registered Mobile Money users.
5.0 Implementation and Control

5.1Budget and Sales Forecast

Primera Muthoni [MTN Uganda - Marketing]

Table 6. The budget and sales forecast for the 2015 to 2018
Year

2016

2017

2018

Transaction(Volume)

300,000,000

600,000,000

900,000,000

Value

214,742,786,627,777
429,485,573,255,554
644,228,359,883,331

Expenses (3% of Sales)

6,442,283,598,833
12,884,567,197,666.62
19,326,850,796,499.93

*Value estimated on assumption that no additional charges are levied on transaction costs
ACTIVITY
Product Plan Develop Buy Airtime &
Data functionality
Distribution Plan Recruit new channel
member Agents, Bank ATMs
Channel innovation Digital channel
Communication Plan Create annual
creative strategy
Formulate of message and production
(Radio ads, TV ads, Print ads)
Select media (Radio, TV, Print)
Internal campaign
Physical evidence Share brand collateral
(POS) to agents and Partner bank ATMS
Process Innovation
People Training

J F M A M J J A S O N D RESPONSIBILITY
Product Manager

BUDGET

YEARS
2016
2016
2016
2016
2016
2016
2016
2016
2016
2016

Product Plan Open innovation campaign

Integrate new Merchant Payment products
Pricing Plan Promotion pricing on Buy
Airtime product (10% bonus)
Distribution Plan Recruit new channel
member Agents, Bank ATMs
Communication Plan Create annual
creative strategy
Formulate of message and production
(Radio ads, TV ads, Print ads)
Select media (Radio, TV, Print)
Internal campaign
Physical evidence Share brand collateral
(POS) to agents and Partner banks
Process Innovation
People Training

2017
2017
2017

Product Plan Integrate new Merchant

Payment products
Pricing Plan Promotion pricing on
Merchant Payments
Distribution Plan
Recruit new channel member Agents,
Bank ATMs
Channel innovation Digital channel
Communication Plan Create annual
creative strategy

2018

2017
2017
2017
2017
2017
2017
2017
2017

2018
2018
2018
2018
2018

Primera Muthoni [MTN Uganda - Marketing]

Formulate message (Radio ads, TV ads,
Print ads)
Select media (Radio, TV, Print)
Internal campaign
Physical evidence Share brand collateral
(POS) to agents and Partner banks
Process Innovation
People Training

2018
2018
2018
2018
2018
2018

6.0 Measurement and Control

According to Kaplan and Norton, the
that allows organizations to identify
controlled through a coherent set of
internal company processes as well
performance and results.

BSC is a management model (not only a measurement tool)

their vision and strategy and translate into specific actions
actions performance measures. It supplies responses across
as external results so that it constantly advances strategic

6.1 Learning and Growth

6.1.1 Innovation analysis; The innovation health of MTN Uganda will be measured annually
through a research agency to analyze the performance of the innovation strategy in terms of staff
awareness of goals and commitment to achieving them, management support and resource
availability and the level of innovation culture. The results will be shared with management and
staff
6.2 Process
6.2.1 Distribution analysis; The availability of Mobile Money agents within 500metres in every
town in Uganda will be
6.3 Customer
6.3.1 Customer Satisfaction;
6.4 Financial
6.4.1 Sales analysis; Sales for B2C and B2B customers will be analyzed through weekly reports of
new customer, agent and merchant recruitments by regional mobile money coordinators to the
Regional Business Manager who analyses the weekly reports and compiles monthly and quarterly
reports for the Management team for further review to check actual sales versus target and device
corrective measures for the variance. Sales revenue in form of mobile money transactions is
analyzed monthly and quarterly by automated system report generated by the revenue assurance
analysts.
Market share analysis; Quarterly evaluations of MTN Mobile Money performance against
competition will be carried out by research firm IPSOS.
Relative price analysis;