The companies will deliver mCommerce solutions to increase the current level of financial inclusion of the unbanked and semi-banked, via a greatly simplified registration process for opening mobile wallets, as well as rapid bank account opening processes. An individual's accessibility to financial institutions - whether banks, micro-finance institutions (MFIs) or savings and credit cooperatives (SACCOs) - is significantly increased while offering tailored financial products beyond the now mainstream person-to-person mobile money transfer services found in Africa. The mCommerce services are designed for major enterprises, small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs), cooperatives, insurance, medical and pension schemes, schools, disbursement channels, government agencies and international remittance channels.

"Integrating financial institutions and other stakeholders into a single mobile commerce platform makes it a great deal easier for individuals, governments and businesses to manage finances. The ultimate goal is to also make it effortless for people to progress towards opening a fully integrated bank account," said Duncan Otieno, CEO of MobiKash Afrika. "As the most comprehensive of its type in the world, the Sybase 365 Mobiliser platform has the track record and robust functionality required to ensure the project's success."

The initial deployment is being piloted this year in Kenya with a combination of banks, MFIs and bill issuers utilizing USSD as the mobile communication channel. In parallel, the MobiKash business model is being established in various other COMESA (Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa) territories where several project contracts have already been signed and deployment work has commenced.

"The MobiKash project represents a significant step forward in delivering the necessary integrated infrastructure required to ensure that the unbanked can now move towards seamless transactions via an exceptionally advanced mCommerce portal service," said Matthew Talbot, vice president, mCommerce, Sybase 365. "With many similar projects already being deployed by Sybase 365, the African continent will eventually become an integrated single mCommerce ecosystem using a common architecture and product set."

Separately, Sybase 365, a subsidiary of Sybase, Inc. (NYSE:SY), the global leader in mobile messaging and mobile commerce, today announced it is working with MoPay, an independent mobile services provider for the banking, telecoms and technology industries, to enable diverse communities in South Africa to access mobile commerce services.

This partnership will improve access to financial services for the under-serviced and un-banked communities of South Africa - individuals that would ordinarily struggle to connect with traditional banking and commerce mechanisms due to geographical or sociological barriers. Aimed primarily at lower to middle social groupings that are dependent on services provided in municipalities, it will also facilitate enhanced efficiency of payment collection for government bodies, utilities providers and educational organisations.

Sybase 365 is managing all of the messaging interconnection for the service using a dedicated SMS short-code - 31636 - that functions across all South African operator networks. Sybase 365 also provides the mobile payments platform, to process all financial transactions between the customer and the government and corporate entities.

"It is very rewarding to be at the forefront of a project which can really make a profound difference to the lives of people in South Africa. So many people are faced with a half day round trip to reach services that they can now access using a network independent, ubiquitous mCommerce service. It would be difficult for a farmer to give up a day tending his farm to go to visit his bank," said Cobus Potgieter, CEO, MoPay. "Our partnership with Sybase 365 enables us to extend mobile-based service offerings to many more diverse, under-privileged and remote communities."

"Projects such as this are changing the way in which South Africans can transact with key organisations," said Matthew Talbot, vice president, mCommerce at Sybase 365. "Significant numbers of unbanked individuals across South Africa, who have no formal relationship with a financial institution, can now easily pay for a variety of core services, and receive disbursements via the efficient and trusted mobile channel."

The initial service provides real-time electricity pre-pay meter recharge for Eskom (the South African electricity public utility) and various municipalities using the MoPay mobile wallet running on a network independent platform. The service is designed to enable lower income consumers to easily manage their electricity payments by way of micro-payments and help municipalities and public utilities improve payment efficiencies. A key element of the service is to facilitate the distribution of Free Basic Electricity tokens (tokens distributed by the government to low-income households), sent by SMS to registered meter owners, thus improving the accessibility of this vital state benefit to poorer households. In the future MoPay intends to add a variety of innovative social payment and disbursement schemes to the portfolio, with a significant focus on assisting the government of South Africa and socially targeted corporations to disburse and collect funds.

Although a commercial trading entity, MoPay is a unique organisation that focuses on the social needs of communities in an inclusive manner. As well as providing this payment mechanism, MoPay also facilitates other services vital to thriving villages and communities, such as free communications, free SMS between schools and parents and free content for schools and students. For example, the supply of 30 minutes free and uncapped Internet time at Vlocity Hotspots all over South Africa to MoPay users.