Extraordinary Endeavors in Turbulent Times: Asian Innovation, Inclusion, and Impact during COVID-19

ASIA BUSINESS COUNCIL HONG KONG UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 8 0 Yoma Group (Myanmar) Extraordinary Endeavors in Turbulent Times pensioners and civil servants who used to have to wait in line for five to six hours at their local branches in order to receive their pensions; this process has been significantly expedited by digital payments. While using cash for disbursements is susceptible to leakages in any developing economy, especially where records are paper-based and the ID system is not very good, the advantage of Wave Money is that it is transparent and minimizes corruption. Wave Money processes three sets of information for any given transfer. First, Wave Money receives the mobile phone number of the recipient, which can be cross checked against telecoms data to verify an individual’s identity and records the name of the owner. Second, Wave Money tells the government when a payment has been issued to an individual and the amount transferred. Finally, Wave Money records the time and date of a disbursement and how much money remains to be cashed out for a given recipient. For the government, as long as the name of the owner of a phone number matches the name of the person who should be receiving the money, there is no opportunity for leakage in the process. Empowering Women as Agents during the Crisis Furthermore, Wave Money has also empowered women during the crisis through its network of female agents. According to field data collected by the company, around 80 percent of Wave Shops are run by women, even though only 40 percent of agent registrations are made by women. It is often the case that the husband registers while the wife runs the shop. Wave Money empowers female agents