MobiKash Afrika Limited has today unveiled the first of its kind independent mobile commerce ecosystem in the country.  The platform, which will work across all four GSM networks (Safaricom, Airtel, Orange and Yu) and across all participating banks will deliver a wide range of revolutionary services through a growing network of partnering banks and agents across the country.The MobiKash Platform is developed in partnership with Sybase 365, a global leader in mobile commerce and mobile messaging services, with a portfolio of more than 700 mobile operators and an estimated 3 billion subscribers around the world.Today’s launch follows a rigorous one year commercial live pilot programme conducted across three banks (National Bank of Kenya, Postbank and Transnational Bank), in compliance with the Communication Commission of Kenya (CCK) and Central Bank of Kenya(CBK) regulatory frameworks. Speaking at the official launch of the company, MobiKash’s Chief Executive Officer, Duncan Oduor Otieno confirmed that his company was in talks with players within the financial services sector, with a view to bringing on board more partnering banks.  “We are happy to be at the forefront of delivering a revolutionary product that will significantly grow the financial services landscape, by leveraging technology”.“The potential for this new mobile commerce ecosystem is unlimited, and the one year pilot phase has given us an opportunity to gauge some of the ripple effects of such a service in this market”, he said, noting that apart from spurring job creation and stimulating economic growth, MobiKash also presented a unique opportunity for individuals and organizations to transform the way they manage their financial matters.For the unbanked, MobiKash will offer the first of its kind, a universal bank account through its network of agents across the country which will allow the potential customers to pick a bank account of their choice.  The POPOTE Account will be accessible through any MobiKash agent, as well as directly through any of the partnering banks.  This, according to Mr Otieno, will go a long way in bridging the gap between the banked and the unbanked populations.Also speaking at the Launch, the MobiKash Chairman, Mrs Muthoni Kuria said that the MobiKash model also allows bank customers to conveniently withdraw cash directly from their bank accounts at any of the MobiKash agent outlet without having to reveal their bank account details to the Agents. MobiKash thus allows one agent to conveniently and seamlessly serve all the banks in the market with one single process, one single agent float and thus offering real interoperability between various players in the financial and payments industry. MobiKash customers will have the capability to link up to 15 bank accounts to their mobile wallet. This innovative development is the first of its kind in the world.The launch of MobiKash’s mobile commerce ecosystem was attended by a cross section of stakeholders from the public and private sector.  Speaking at the event, Central Bank of Kenya Governor Professor Njuguna Ndungu hailed the launch as marking a new phase in the journey towards e-commerce.  He said that MobiKash had fulfilled all the necessary requirements that resulted in it receiving a license to offer Mobile Money Transfer Services and Integrated Mobile Banking and Payment System.Commenting on the new service launch, Samwel Poghisio, Minister for Information and Communication said that Kenya continued to make good progress in its quest to leverage ICT in delivering tangible benefits across the socio-economic spectrum.  He said, “With our efforts concerted towards achieving Vision 2030, innovative breakthroughs such as these take us many steps closer towards realizing the broader ideals across diverse frontiers”.He said that the launch of MobiKash would go a long way in complementing initiatives spearheaded by individual GSM operators that have so far seen approximately 14.5 million subscribers’ access mobile-based financial services.Following the launch today, MobiKash will embark on an aggressive countrywide awareness and recruitment drive, disseminating information around the salient features of the service.  The company targets to enroll approximately 300,000 subscribers within the first six months of launch.  MobiKash subscribers will access the wide range of services to be provided by over 3,000 agents  who have already been contracted to be activated after this launch. MobiKash plans to enlist more agents across all the 47 counties in the next six months.