Vodafone Ghana’s CEO, Patricia Obo-Nai continued in her streak of silverware collection as she emerged the CEO of the Year at the maiden Foreign Investors Network (FIN) Awards held at the plush Movempick Ambassador Hotel in Accra.
On the same night, the rare and innovative gesture by Vodafone in offering a complete free transfers of all amounts and to all networks on Vodafone Cash for more than one year, was also adjudged the Mobile Money Innovation of the Year.
FIN Awards climaxed the maiden African Cashless Payments Systems (ACPS) Conference in Ghana, where several industry players discussed how to use digitalization and cashless payments to drive intra-continental trade within the context of the AfCFTA (Africa Continental Free Trade Area).
Some 20 personalities, including Patricia Obo-Nai, and 18 organizations from mainly Ghana and Nigeria were rewarded for their contribution to the digital transformation journey of the continent.
For Patricia, winning laurels has become like second skin, making her arguably the most decorated CEO in the country right now.
This would not be the first time she has won CEO of the Year in this. At the Ghana Information Technology and Telecom Awards (GITTA), she walked away with a similar accolade, which is in fact a repeat for her from the previous year.
Some of the awards she has won this year alone include Women Leadership Excellence Award at Ghana CEO’s Network Summit, Africa’s Most Respected CEO Awards in the continent’s Telecommunications Industry (Dubai, UAE), Woman of the Year, EMY Africa Awards, Tech Industry Personality of the Year, Ghana Information Technology and Telecoms Awards, and Woman of Excellence Award, Ghana Business Awards, just to name a few.
Patricia has been outstanding in leading Vodafone Ghana to roll out innovative products and services consistently. The list include Smart Surf Router, which is a result of a partner with Surfline; the very popular 2Mooch Data, Medical Call Center, the customer service bot, ToBi, Business Runway, Your Business Online, Red Trader, Virtual Skills Fair, SuperCare and many others which continue to make waves in the industry.
Free Transfer
Indeed, one of the key innovations is the Vodafone Cash free transfer to all networks, which is unprecedented and has still not be done by any network, not even the overwhelming market leader, MTN.
The free transfer initiative for even transfers across networks means that Vodafone actually pays the custodian of the interoperability platform, Ghana Interbank Payments and Settlements Systems for transfers on that platform. That is a sacrifice no other mobile money operator is making.
It would appear the initiative has paid off because it has pushed Vodafone Cash from the back bench in the mobile money space to number two within a short time.
In the third quarter of this year, between the months of July and September, Vodafone Cash processes over 120 million mobile money transaction, second to only MTN.
