By John-John Whitfield
Afrimoney is a mobile money solution offered to all Africell Subscribers. Afrimoney is a secure way to store and manage money in an account linked to your Africell sim card, similar to a bank account.
Canadian University of Modern Technology at Mile 91, in the rural, northern region of Sierra Leone, is an independent nonprofit educational institution registered in 2014 with a mission to provide the comprehensive education, skill training and ethnical leadership necessary to prepare students for employment and advancement in a variety of technology and business fields.
The Head of Afrimoney Martison Obeng-Agyei speaking at the launch of the platform said that Afrimoney and Africell care so much about their communities by ensuring that they are financially included in the form of digitalized means. Mr. Obeng-Agyei emphasized that the world is changing very fast and it was necessary for institutions like Canadian University of Modern Technology to be brought up to speed since they are a technology driven university.
“The University’s name ends with Modern Technology which means you must be able to do everything in a digital way rather than paper based,” Mr. Obeng-Agyei stated. He continued, “Students do not need to travel long distances to collect their school fees and other university fees but sit at the comfort of their homes and do their payments.” According to him they have inputted all the relevant information given to them by the University administration regarding the necessary payments that students will be making through the Afrimoney fees payment, including their identification details. Martison said that he was sure that every student has an ID to identify them so that the administration will easily identify students that have made payment.
“I am encouraging students who do not have Africell SIM cards to get one and be activated for Afrimoney and those who have but are not yet activated to do so,” he emphasized. Doing a presentation as to how the system operates the Head of Business Development and Partnership at Afrimoney James Tommy Beah explained that all students need to do is become activated for the Afrimoney system to access the service.
He said that all they need to do is dial star, one-six-one- harsh and choose option two which is pay bill. He continued that after choosing option two they should now select option eleven from the drop down menu which will take them to two options and that they should choose fees payment.
James Tommy Beah furthered his presentation by saying after choosing fees payment they will now be directed to two other options tertiary and schools for which they should choose tertiary which comprises of Universities, Colleges and TVETS.
According to him since they are a university they should choose option one which will take them to another dropdown menu with CUMT as the only option. “When you choose option one which has CUMT you will now see an instruction to enter your student identification number of which I believe you all have,” Mr. Beah said.
He concluded that students should then follow the necessary instructions to finally do their payments as the system is easy to use. Explaining their ordeals before the system was launched the president of the Student Union Government Mohamed Deen Bangura lamented that it had been challenging for them travelling long distances to get their fees.
Mr. Bangura said that sometimes it was risk for them to travel with their fees so that they do not end up in the company of thieves. Launching the Afrimoney fees payment the Vice Chancellor of the Canadian University of Modern Technology Professor Bob Conteh said that it was gratifying to see that Afrimoney and Africell are making life easier and comfortable for institutions like theirs.
“I am extremely delighted to see that our institution happens to be the first to benefit from such and to make fees payments and all other payments easier for our students,” he explained. The Vice Chancellor disclosed that in the past they have been duped millions of Leones by people who present themselves to have been working for the institution.
I am appealing to Afrimoney and Africell to also take this development to other institutions so that they too can benefit and help them to solve their many financial challenges,” he said. Students present at the launching ceremony had the opportunity to get their SIMS reactivated for Afrimoney and those without Africell SIM were able to purchase one and got activated.
