DOREEN CHUNKS BOTH BOOKS AND BUSINESS
In the heart of Kamwokya, is where you find Amumpiire Doreen, a journalism student at Makerere university. She operates a mobile money business for her survival at campus. This business majorly involves sending and receiving of money via a mobile device. It also enables one to save money, make payments on various services and goods. Doreen works in her business after lectures, and on weekends.
She is very proud of her business because she gets money to pay her rent arrears, buy food, transport fares to campus, and other daily needs. She further says, the mobile money business is very flexible compared to other businesses, because you always have your money either at hand or in float. This business has also enabled her create a good relationship with people in the society, who are also her also her customers.
Like any other business, the mobile money business has challenges too, the risks that occur and the constant threats when you hear other people in the same business being killed by robbers and they take their money away, this makes her leave work early than the expected time, and the risks of giving high amount of money to the customer than the one they have paid for
Sometimes, people give them fake money, which they have to discard, leading to losses, and thieves that tell her to deposit money on their phones then run away without paying, others call her claiming to be MTN agents who tell her to put her pin and they withdraw money directly from her account.
Additionally, the changing rates from the telecom companies also make their work hard, since it is their role to explain to their clients that the rates have changed and they insist on old rates, because some of their clients are ignorant and lack enough information about mobile money
Conclusively, Doreen calls upon the police to give the mobile money operators security, and also encourages fellow students to be innovative and start up small businesses that will improve on their financial status and enable them to be job creators rather than job seekers.
