Sun, Jan 7
In a globalized world, it's common to perceive sending money as simple and straightforward, easily reaching the recipient's hands. But is this really the case?
Well, I can assure you it's not. What might be easily circumvented in some parts of the world is not a reality in others. To prove this, I'll use my country, Mozambique, as an example.
Beautiful landscape with amazing rivers, mountains and paradise valley can be found in Mozambique
For those unfamiliar, Mozambique is an African country located in Southern Africa with a total population of nearly 33 million people. The capital is Maputo, known as the city of acacias, and the economic capital is Matola, where I proudly live. Like any country, it has beautiful landscapes and much to explore in tourism, where we excel with idyllic beaches and a paradise for adventurers.
We boast a remarkable fauna, especially for those looking to explore endangered animals. Despite issues like poaching, for example, we still have pangolins, which are highly valued globally.
The population is very affectionate, and many Europeans, Asians, and even Americans are enchanted by the country, creating families here and starting a new life.
However, despite being a very welcoming country and in high demand, there are social problems, such as poverty, and economic issues like unemployment in a country where the largest population segment is young. To survive, most of these youths turn to informal business and entrepreneurship.
Slowly young CypherPunks in Mozambique are turning to crypto as viable manner to store and use their money
This entrepreneurial sector had a significant impact a few years ago during COVID, when no one could leave their homes. Here, many young people started looking for ways to get paid without leaving home, and some succeeded in this area while others returned to formal employment and have to clock in daily.
One of these young entrepreneurs was me! Yes, myself. Always a fan of the digital world, I turned my writing into something productive and became a digital content creator, not out of amateurism but by deciding to turn my passion into a business. Despite ups and downs, I can affirm that today I have a market.
Now, addressing the topic of this article, which is to analyze the ways you can send money to Mozambique, it's not as easy as many might think. Although we have an operational banking system and a very good mobile industry ensuring services like M-pesa or E-mola are successful, there's still a large population without access to these services.
The population lacks a viable banking inclusion program, and many are excluded from the service, which limits them to mobile wallets like E-mola or M-pesa. However, these only serve for internal transfers and cannot receive money from abroad. In other words, the majority of the population still does not have a viable service for receiving international money, and Foreigners (Mozambican citizens living in the diaspora) always have to resort to remittance services to send money home.
M-pesa and other mobile services aren't international and doesnt work to receive money from abroad
However, these remittance services end up taking a large portion of the recipient's money due to high payment fees and long processing times (at least 72 hours). Those with a bank account also face significant challenges in receiving external capital because banks must adhere to money laundering regulations, which also take days to process.
Additionally, banks have to convert the amount into Metical, and by the time it reaches the recipient's pocket, the amount has undergone many processes and is not the same as what was originally sent. Thus, the recipient ends up receiving less compared to what was sent.
There are ways to receive international funds, for example, for those working in countries like South Africa, Mozambique's neighbor. People can open an M-pesa or E-mola account and load money onto it. Once there, they have to receive the money in Rand (South African currency) and convert it to Metical, sending it to Mozambique through the M-pesa service to the recipient within the country.
It's a lot of work and requires much effort for both the sender and the recipient to feel at ease until the money reaches its destination.
Therefore, sending money to Mozambique is a lengthy process and not easy. I can move around and receive cryptocurrencies because I have created a market for it (we can discuss this in another article), but for the average citizen, it's almost impossible to have external money instantly. I also reduce various stresses like high fees (I pay low ones) and delay (I get the money immediately in my account). Another thing is that I personally manage my money.
Crypto is at all the best option to send money in Mozambique, faster, instant and with lower cost
Services like PayPal or Money Gram work very little, and the clients for these services (like Moneygram) are the banks, which, as mentioned earlier, are not easy to use for immediate access to funds in a client's account.
So if you're thinking of sending money to Mozambique, it's better to first understand the recipient's urgency in using the money or even whether they have knowledge of cryptocurrencies to be able to send it using Blockchain and be free from the stress traditional systems bring. I hope this helps to understand a bit of the reality of sending money to Mozambique.
Have an excellent Sunday.
Reminding readers of cherished moments:
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