Microfinance Focus, June 29, 2010: Obopay, a mobile banking and payment provider has entered into partnership with the financial group, Societe Generale to bring mobile payment services to banked and unbanked customers who have access to a mobile phone in Africa.  The partnership between the companies is intended to make mobile payments available in new markets, with the first stage of the initiative launched in Senegal through Societe Generale de Banques au Senegal (SGBS).  The new service, offered as "Yoban'tel by Obopay", is a carrier-agnostic, mobile money transfer and bill payment service that is available to all the people of Senegal with a mobile phone.  This is accomplished by leveraging SGBS's current branches and opening up new channels of distribution for banking services through commercial partners including Credit Mutuel du Senegal, TIGO and CANALSAT HORIZONS.  Users can enroll for a mobile payment service and load or pick up cash at designated locations throughout Senegal.  They can also use the service to send money to anyone throughout the country, or to pay a bill. "In Senegal, traditional banking services are typically very limited; people can spend an entire day each month standing in line to pay for things like their utility services in cash," said Richard Hababou, managing director of Societe Generale Innovations Group.  "Yoban'tel by Obopay allows us to establish innovative and convenient mobile money transfer and payments for those Senegalese who have previously not had access to such services”. With Yoban'tel by Obopay, any Senegalese resident owning a mobile phone will be able to send money to recipients using a simple SMS transaction. Yoban'tel by Obopay services are available for both existing customers of the bank or new customers through a prepaid account. "Partnering with one of the world's leading banks, Societe Generale, enables them to put mobile money at the heart of their accounts," said Obopay CEO Carol Realini, who founded the company following volunteer work in Africa, where she witnessed people in some of the most remote areas of the world carrying phones who lacked access to banking. "Their reach will bring new mobile money access to millions.  Furthermore, this latest offering extends our experience in meeting the needs of four different sets of regulatory environments and market dynamics – including the US, India, Kenya and now Senegal – and gives us the expertise, robust platform and service offering needed to expand into new markets very quickly." Founded in 2005, Obopay, Inc., (banks.obopay.com) offers financial institutions an open, trusted, secure and interoperable mobile payments service by transforming any mobile phone into a convenient and easy way to send and receive money.  The company's Mobile Money for Banks offers bank-branded, account-centric mobile service quickly, painlessly and at low deployment cost.  Obopay's broad-based offering addresses the needs of consumers and businesses around the world by providing a ubiquitous service that delivers value, empowers lives and improves opportunity for merchants both in the physical and virtual worlds.  The company provides innovative mobile money services making it easy for mobile phone users to securely send and receive money, top-up their mobile, buy online, buy via mobile, pay bills and pay small businesses.