‘Meet the Product’ they called it and had invited several bloggers from Karachi. It was to be the launch of EasyPaisa ‘Mobile Account’, a service that brings the convenience of mobile banking to the household. It enables users to Pay Utility Bills, Transfer Money, Check Account Balance and View Mini-Statement. Let me share an event timeline and how it unfolded yesterday:

7:10 PM – Recitation of the holy quran by Mr. Omair Ahmed

7:15 PM – Telenor Manager Corporate Communication, Mr. Affan Haider, starts his talk about the EasyPaisa Idea and its potential. He highlighted that EasyPaisa had processed more than 420,000 bill payment transactions and 120,000 Money transfer transactions. By far the highest number of bills payed on an electronic channel. He also spoke about the contribution of the telecom industry to Pakistans growth and how Easy Paisa is actually making a contribution to Pakistans economy.

7:20 PM – Mr. Ali Abbas Sikander, Executive Director of Operations & Technology at Tameer microfinance Bank was invited to speak on the occasion. He spoke from the Regulatory perspective and banking perspective. He talked about the Branchless Banking regulation by SBP that introduced a concept in Pakistan which is resisted in other countries around the world.

He was of the view that Bloggers are “opinion makers”.

7:25 PM onwards, introduction of participants

7:40 PM - Video on international bloggers contribution to the Haiti Cause, Here I had to highlight efforts of Pakistani bloggers to earthquake victims and IDPs.

7:55 PM – Mr. Omar Moeen Malik – Business Manager EasyPaisa – Talks about Blogs being read more outside Pakistan. He appreciated the Bloggers in exporting the positive stuff Pakistan is doing. He highlighted that Pakistan is among the very few countries where Branchless banking has been practically  rolled out.

He then spoke about the new EasyPaisa Mobile Account, a bank account accessible through your phone. Omar gave a good example to highlight the importance of a cell phone today that if a person forgets his wallet at home on his way to work, he does not turn back to get it but IF he forgets his cell phone, he actually turns back to pick up his phone.

This was followed by his presentation on Mobile Account – Virtual Bank account opened for any telenor subscriber. The customer goes to a merchant to deposit or withdraw cash. Transactions included in mobile account are:

  • Cash deposit
  • Cash withdrawal,
  • Utility Bill Payment
  • Funds Transfer
  • Account balance
  • Mini-statement
  • PIN management
  • Favorites
  • Transfer In/Out.

8:15 PM onwards, a very healthy and active Question Answer session began that went on for almost 35 minutes with new ideas being shared and explored by the EasyPaisa management and the bloggers.

9:00 PM – The best part! The delicious dinner was Served!

A good, engaging session. One I would like to attend if it happens another time.