Ask an institution what it costs to serve a rural member and the answer is usually framed in terms of the branch. Rent, staff, security. The number that rarely gets counted is cash logistics: moving physical money to and from a branch that exists mainly so members have somewhere to deposit and withdraw.
The alternative already exists
In most of the markets we work in, there is already a dense network of mobile money agents handling cash every day. AD Push & Pull connects the core banking system directly to the mobile network operator, so a member can deposit from a wallet into their account and withdraw the other way.
We connected the first MFI to MTN's MoMo platform in 2015. Since then the pattern has repeated: the branch stops being a cash point and becomes an advisory one.
What it changes at Gatare
Gatare Tea Farmers Sacco used to disburse salaries over two working days, with every member travelling in to collect. Now salaries arrive on the phone on payday. The Sacco did not open a branch to achieve that. It connected the one it had.
