Introduced to the Ugandan market last year, ayoba, the African superApp, is the first ever instant messaging app that allows its users the liberty of sending cash digitally in-app while chatting, allowing them to seamlessly transact without having to drop their conversations. The ‘Life inside ayoba’ campaign will enable all the ayoba users to send MTN Mobile Money for free in-app while bringing together all the unique and exciting features of the ‘SuperApp’ including chat, voice and video calling, content sharing, music and playlists, gaming, and payment facilities among others. While launching the ‘Life inside ayoba’ campaign, Olivier Prentout, the Head of Customer Marketing for ayoba said that the App would appeal to many consumers as it provides digital solutions to the day-to-day life needs of the consumer in a practical yet affordable way. “In building the ‘Life inside ayoba’ campaign we looked at what unites our African users. With Ayoba, users can find everything they need in our all-in-one app. This approach has brought us a textured and innovative campaign, and we are very proud of it. We are excited to launch the campaign with the full support of MTN” Prentout said, noting that app has been lauded for its unique and exciting practicality that it offers its users all they need in a single app that is available on both Android and iOS devices. According to Prentout, 2021 has particularly been a fast-paced year for ayoba as the messaging app recently celebrated its second year of operation in May 2021. As of July 2021, ayoba had recorded 8 million monthly active users across the MTN Group with 400,000 active ayoba users in Uganda. Ayoba recently received the award for Best OTT Brand of the Year at the Marketing World Awards 2021. This adds to the 2020 win for ayoba at the Africa Digital Award for Best Mobile Application in November 2020. Susan Kayemba, the MTN Uganda Digital Services Senior Manager said that as an instant messaging App, underscores the goal of bringing more people into the digital world by providing them with affordable and simplified, yet inclusive and functional digital communication services. “The ayoba app is perfect for the Ugandan market. It is vibrant and relevant and will appeal to everyone especially the youth. Most importantly, ayoba is an all-in-one app that gives you chat and call options, music, games, news, sports and much more information at no data cost in addition to sending MTN MoMo free of charge using ayoba. We urge our customers to seize the Life inside ayoba campaign and relish the transformational all-in-one App that is ayoba” Kayemba said. According to Kayemba, although ayoba can be used by anybody across all the networks, MTN customers are automatically allocated free data to use ayoba features. Free data allocations can be used for all activities available in the app – including messaging, browsing, gaming, and listening to music, and customers can also download the app data free at www.ayoba.me. However, voice and video calls are excluded from the free data provisions. As the ayoba platform continues to grow it supports 22 languages spoken across our markets while allowing users to safely send and receive encrypted messages, make voice, and video calls, share photos, videos and digital files. Users can access both entertaining and educative content available through 150 curated channels aimed at entertaining, educating, and empowering communities, as well as access to 200 games and stream free music from a wide selection of playlists. Ayoba users now have access to a range of Micro-Apps ranging from Telehealth, live streaming services, and high-quality short videos, all available within the app. Micro-Apps such as FakeNews Checker allow subscribers to verify information and news while Survey54 allows people to get involved in surveys while earning some revenue. Other MicroApps we are excited about include Live Scores for live football updates, live and on demand sports streaming and so much more. To send Mobile Money for free using the ayoba app; go to chats and select the person you want to chat with. Select the attachment icon and then select the money icon. Go ahead and select Send MoMo and follow prompts. Enter the amount and reason. You Will be prompted to enter MoMo pin. The transaction will be completed, and you will receive an SMS notification. Ayoba comes with an in-app assistant called ‘Aya’ to guide new users on how to use an instant messaging app. Aya appears automatically in everyone’s chats and can run a variety of interactive tutorials for key features within ayoba. Image: susan kayemba MTN Uganda’s Senior Manager for Digital services.
