MTN Ghana has rewarded 185 mobile money agents and merchants across the five regions of the north at the 2025 Regional Mobile Agents and Merchants Awards Night, highlighting the company’s reliance on frontline operators to sustain growth in the mobile money sector.
The event, which was held on Friday, December 19 at Mariam Hotel in the Sagnarigu Municipality of the Northern Region, brought together mobile money agents and merchants from the five regions of the North.
Senior Manager for Commercial at MTN Northern Ghana Operations, Simon Amoh, said the Mobile Money Limited business recorded strong performance in 2025, citing improvements in customer acquisition, revenue and transaction volumes.
“Across all fronts, acquisitions have improved, revenue has improved and transactions have increased, so it has been a very great year for the MML space we operate in,” he said.
Mr Amoh said MTN invested more than two million Ghana cedis in rewards for agents and merchants across Northern Ghana, largely through e-cash incentives. He described the award scheme as a deliberate effort to recognise loyalty and performance.
“The business we do revolves around our agents and merchants. Without them, we will not be able to do anything,” he said.
He noted that although 185 winners were announced at the Tamale event, not all awardees could be present. “Tonight we’ve awarded 185 people, but the remaining awards will be regionalised and presented at the district level,” he said.
Mr. Amoh also disclosed that MTN is working on new innovations to improve customer security, including a system that allows customers to transact using agent identification numbers instead of sharing their phone numbers. “This will give customers the opportunity to transfer money without leaving traces of their personal numbers with agents,” he explained.
Commercial Operations Manager at MTN Mobile Money Limited, Abdul-Razak Ali, credited agents and merchants for making MoMo Ghana’s leading platform for payments and transfers. “We would not be here as the biggest platform for payments and transfers in Ghana without our agents and managers,” he said, describing them as the backbone of the business.
Reflecting on the early days of mobile money, Mr. Ali recalled widespread public skepticism when the service was launched 16 years ago. “It wasn’t easy getting people to accept mobile money as a means of payment and transfer. People didn’t understand how money could be on the mobile,” he said.
He added that sustained efforts by agents and merchants transformed mobile money into a platform that now supports payments, savings and loan services. “Mobile money is not stopping here. It is only at the beginning,” he said.
Mr Ali described the awards night as a celebration of excellence and urged recipients to remain competitive in the coming year. “To those receiving awards today, thank you for what you’ve done in 2025, but it’s not done yet. Let’s start thinking about 2026,” he said, warning that others were eager to take the place of underperforming operators.
John Porodam of Stefan Akobre Enterprise in Navrongo emerged as the overall best merchant for the Upper East Region. He received 15,000 Ghana cedis after winning the Merchant Category award for 2025. “Last year we were represented but didn’t win anything. This year we came with full force and improved our services, and with God by our side we made it,” he said.
Mr Porodam described the recognition as a major achievement, particularly after travelling from Navrongo to Tamale for the event. “I feel proud. It’s an achievement, and we are hoping to come back again and win even bigger while improving our services,” he said, adding that his team aimed to do better for MTN and for Ghana as a whole.
Despite the celebration, Mr Porodam raised concerns about operational challenges in the mobile money space, particularly fraud. “Day in, day out, people are hacking accounts, and it creates serious problems for us,” he said, calling on MTN to strengthen frontline measures to address the issue.
MTN officials acknowledged fraud as a growing industry-wide challenge, noting that the company is intensifying collaboration to stay ahead of criminals while encouraging customers to protect their wallets.
The awards night brought together agents, merchants, regulators and partner banks, as MTN positioned its mobile money business for further expansion across Northern Ghana in 2026.
Source: www.kumasimail.com
