Mobile Banking - Why it is getting sluggish in Nepal?

A lot of things come as FADs all the time. And an even bigger LOT of things come and go, and we hardly even notice. Primarily because they were not worth noticing. That's how the market works, that's how business dynamics creates constant ripples and nurtures the lucky few right on the epicenter of such ripples. Most - merely because they were luckky enough to be there at the right moment.

And sometimes, things do come as a small thing. Things people don't care about at first, they see it, talk about it - 'O its fancy, nice, cool... hmmm...' and just forget about it as they do not have problems with how things are with them and do not see the need to embrace such new things. And they get all might in the long run. When the initial visionaries have tired off trying to sell their products to the market, and when the latecomers gather to benefit out of the small ray of hope these tired old visionaries leave behind for them.

Take the whole city of Las Vegas for example. All that its visionary got were a few bullets all over his body on account of sheer desperation from the investors. And when these investors did realize how wonderful his vision was, it was a tad too late to wake him up and thank him for having dreamed of a dream city.

Again, take noodles for example. Here in Nepal if not around the world. I remember when Gandaki Noodles hired teams of people to go across the country to give demonstration of how to cook the white noodles and encourage people to guy 'em. Eat 'em. Love 'em. Few did at the beginning. And a few more with time...

But then Chaudhary Group came up with Wai Wai, and all about RaRa was an epic tale that few remembered. All people today know is that Wai Wai is THE noodle in the industry and the ones to envision their popularity amongst Nepalese - The Gandaki Noodles guys just sit there and talk proudly to their kids and peers how great their vision was...

I see this happening today with Mobile Banking. In the earliest of its days, over half a dozen banks have already started feeling pretty competitive about it, spent a lot of money on worthless promotion, and have come up with so diverse a set of product that the mass is left confused on how to exactly use their mobile phone for banking and how exactly is it supposed to make their life easier.

I have seen a lot of advertisement for mobile banking, but have hardly seen a few that focus on educating the mass (mobile banking is still a weird concept for a lot around us), or on how it makes their life easier. Some do say it makes life easy, but never bother to explain HOW.

I remember when I first went out there in the market to buy a digital camera and got overwhelmed by the number of options I had. As a kid, spending a few thousand on a digital camera was a LOT of money and I didn't want to make a hasty decision. And when I was out there trying to buy one, with the pack of wad in my pocket, I got so scared I came back home without buying nothing !!!

I only wish the providers of Mobile Banking services here would

1. Stop focusing on it as if it were a 'fashion item' or a 'promotional gimmick' and start having educative materials for the mass
2. Stop competing with each other and rather work together. Let the apple tree germinate at least, before you start fighting over your share of the apples...
3. Try spread a common message, so people start seeing Mobile Banking as an option worth trying and start reaping the benefits out of it.

Good luck!