How EVC Plus changed an entrepreneur’s business and life

Riding along the busy, dusty main road in Baydawo, Southwest Somalia, it’s hard to miss the vibrant fabrics on display at Carwa Salama. The shop’s founder, Hawa Mursal Hassan, opened her women’s fashion and fabrics store in 2017. The business has grown steadily over the years allowing Hawa to support her mother and seven younger siblings.

In 2018, Hawa transitioned to using Hormuud Telecom’s EVC Plus mobile money payment system at Carwa Salama. Using it for both inbound and outbound payments, noting “before EVC plus was launched, we had no other choice but to use cash, which had its challenges.”

Hawa, was not alone in finding it challenging to locate enough physical Somali shillings to conduct her business. When able to secure the cash, Hawa found it a security and logistical nightmare. She had to resort to paying a service to safely carry the tender from her store in Baydawo to her suppliers in Mogadishu. This was impractical as it meant she needed to accompany the funds, leaving her business, and family unattended.

The challenges with payments are largely due to the rarity of the Somali banknote. It is currently estimated that over 95% of the physical Somali shilling is counterfeit. The shilling has also undergone exponential inflation. As a result, the Somali economy has dollarized. EVC Plus runs on the US dollar and accepts the Somali shilling.

Hawa’s hardships dissolved when she began using EVC Plus for her business. The payment challenges experienced by all Somalis were solved seemingly overnight by the rapid country-wide uptake of mobile money. Hormuud introduced EVC Plus to Somalia in 2011, and quickly 30 percent of Somalis took it and other mobile money providers up. A decade on, over two thirds of all payments made in Somalia are via mobile money platforms.

For Hawa, this has meant that since 2018 her customers have been able to pay her easily through EVC Plus. The free mobile money service also allows Hawa the autonomy to seamlessly send money to vendors across Somalia, with the assurance of her payments being backed by Hormuud, and now by accreditation from the Central Bank of Somalia.

Hawa professed “I can send money to anyone inside of Somalia, who has an EVC Plus account instantly,” noting “whether I’m paying my sibling’s school fees, rent, or other bills, I can do it all through the platform.” EVC Plus, she recognises, has not only added exponential value to her business, but also to her quality of life.

Hormuud is honored to be able to elevate small businesses and support the Somali entrepreneurs who own them through our free mobile money service, EVC Plus. Our focus continues to be on enriching the lives of Somalis and building conditions in which Somali entrepreneurs can thrive.