By Feima Sesay
Orange Money SL has signed bank to wallet partnership agreement with Rokel Commercial Bank Limited in order to put smiles on the faces of the customers and make life easier for them.
This event took place at the Rokel Commercial Bank LTD Lumley branch Freetown.
 The product is to enable their customers to transfer money to and from their Orange Money Wallet to their Rokel Commercial Bank Account.
Speaking at the Launch, the Chief Executive Officer Orange Money David Mansaray in his statement said he is very much excited to celebrate partnership with Rokel Commercial Bank, though he said it been quite a long journey.
Adding that the purpose was to see how they can use both institutions strength in furthering financial inclusion and ensuring that they meet their customer`s needs as they arises.
He assures that the bank to wallet service is not going to be the last but that more will come in the feature.
CEO Mansaray disclosed that the newly publish report has label Orange SL as the biggest brand in the country whiles RCB happens to be second.
“The launch is to harness the strength of Orange Mobile finance and that of Rokel Commercial Bank, I believe this partnership today is going to impact our customers in a diverse ways and create a room for both institution to access more customers, to provide more customers with quality services to ensure that we can prove our bottom line”, he said.
He underscores that the bank will gain a lot out of the Partnership, as it help with the bank liquidity in that it comes with fresh funds from the informal sectors to the banking sectors, adding that they are more or less free funds as it helps the bank liquidity funds.
He said the service also allows the bank to free it queues in the banking hall.
Mr. Mansaray further stated that their company has nine thousand agents across the country most especially the most remote part of the country.
” This means that if a customer want to open an account with Rokel Commercial Bank, he/ she does not to be trouble that they have no commercial bank branch they can service their account through Orange Money agent in that area as it is easy”, he note
The CEO said as at the end of December last year they were able to achieve about 1 million customers and that the partnership will give Rokel Commercial Bank access to those 1 million customers who to a larger extent will be willing to open an account with Rokel Commercial Bank, adding these are the benefit the bank is going to 3njoy with the partnership.
He added that their company will benefit also. He said the nine thousand agents he spoke about will only be able to do their jobs it they have their liquidity and that is where the bank comes in to provide liquidity for these agents as he said they relied on the bank to manage the company flaws.
He said it is a win-win relationship they are developing with the bank as it will not only benefit the company’s but the entire country in terms of financial inclusion.
“This relationship will help strengthen financial inclusion for the entire country, adding that the reason why they need financial inclusion to improve in Sierra Leone, the economy will develop.
The Managing Director of Rokel Commercial Bank LTD Mr. Walton Ekundayo Gilpin in his statement said it is a significant pleasure for him to be part of the launch.
He noted that a journey of a thousand miles start with one step and that they had been in a journey with orange for a while now.
He early this year they had promised the country that 2021 is going to be a year of digitalization for Rokel Commercial Bank.
The Manager noted that the bank is far better now than the way it was before and that if they continue on that trajectory it will change the lives of their customers permanently not only for the bank but also for economic fundamental in the country.
According to him, the partnership will strengthen financial inclusion that will enable customers to get more access to their finance, taxation, Â Â more revenue and more funds to government in order to implement social development initiative and more time to the public to think about how to get funds to go into business.
” So the circularity of debt and deficit will be broken because will would have the situation where in people will get more access to funds, utilize the funds better and transfer money easier and then that make the whole economy circle better”, he noted.
The Managing Director underscores that the situation of queues at the bank will be a thing of the past as it will enable customers get access to their monies through their phones so that it could trigger the activities in other sectors such as Agriculture through funding fertilizer, funding farmers, health care and insurance care.
He said the process is going to create a significant impact on the economic growth and help shape the fundamentals of the statistic in Sierra Leone.
He said it is time for Sierra Leoneans to say they are tired of being at the bottom among the rest and therefore thank the CEO Orange Money for being patient with them.
He assured the company of the bank continuous support in striving towards development.
Mr. Buffy Bailor, Chairman Board of Director of Rokel Commercial Bank in his statement said their aim is not only to be the bank of choice or No1 bank in Sierra Leone but the number one bank in the sub-region as it is the bank vision.
He therefore said there is no better example of these than the marriage they are going into with Orange Money because they have been name as the biggest brand in the country.
According to the chairman, going to the top is the easy bit but staying at the top is the hard bit but said they have ascend that ladder with top companies in the country.
“I like nothing in my professional life than a challenge and I have challenge my senior management team and always make reference to them that we as a board, we are there to have the vision and provide direction, but they are the once who actualize what we see”, he noted.
He said he believes in the management team of the bank, adding that though they are going to face challenges with connectivity but emphasizes that with the good team of both institutions they would overcome those challenges.
He therefore urged both Orange and RCB staffs to ensure that the partnership work for the development of the country.
He said there is no way they can let the relationship between the two failed as he said for every business profit is key.
Madam Abibatu Baxter from Orange Money Finance in her presentation as to how the system operates said the partnership allows the Orange Money customers to move money from their Orange Money Wallet into their Rokel Commercial Bank Account and also enables them to move money from their bank account into their phones.
She said the customers can move money for as low as Le10,000 and as high as Le15 million a day that is the limit per day.
But it can only work when once customers has savings and a fully register customer with orange money mobile finance.
She also stated that the registration is free, but the name and date of birth on your account number and that on your Orange Money has to be the same to enable customers do their transaction.
She explained on how the service is digital on the side of Orange while the bank`s part is manual as customers will have to dial #144#.
Afterwards, the option will appear and will be given a secret code with 8 characters which the customer will need to do transaction easier.
She said the 8 characters that the customer will received is only valid for 30munit and therefore encourage customers to do it whiles at the bank premises.
These services will enable customers have access to their money 24 hours a day. The service can be used to pay EDSA and DSTV bills at any time of the day.
The minimal fees for toe any transaction is all low as five hundred Leones and twenty five Leone and as high as twenty seven thousand Leones.
The Bank to Wallet partnership was signed by the CEO Orange Money SL and the Chairman Board of Directors Rokel Commercial Bank.
Millionaires Emerge With Mercury 1-90 Lottery
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For many, it is known as one of the millionaires making lottery balls. Single 1-90, as it is popularly known, on last Wednesday, March 10th 2021, made another success story for over Eight Thousand, Six Hundred (8,600) customers who won a whooping sum of over One Billion, Nine Hundred and Seventy-two Thousand, Seven Hundred and Seventy-Five Leones (Le 1.972.775.000) from the Nongowa Draw Edition 135 of the 590 lottery game.
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It was one of the biggest accumulating wins in March 2021 with a register of over Seventy-three Thousand, Seven Hundred and Ten (73, 710,000) tickets as the Nongowa Machine, draw Edition 135 dropped the winning balls: 27-1-90-35-14 (Extra 6-(38), Extra 7-(85) in turbo 3.
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One of the lucky winners, Alpha Sesay in a delight mood told Mercury International Public Relations Department how excited he was as he won Four Million Leones (Le 4, 000,000) from the said ball.
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“I was so lucky because this is a ball I do play, but for over a month I decided not to play the said ball again, not until Wednesday when I was just moved and decided that I will play the ball throughout the day,” Sesay said, adding that, this was his second-biggest win in the lottery after winning Le Eight Millions Leones from the Mercury International football product.
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Mercury International Deputy Public Relations Manager, Sahr Morris Jr reacting to the winning news with a big smile said, as a Company, they are not only excited to see frequent winnings from all their products, especially for the lottery lovers but also encouraged all and sundry to realize their dreams with Mercury International lottery and football betting.
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He said: “The Company is always happy to see people on the winning side. This is a clear indication of our transparency, fairness and the genuine operation of our games. My call today is, please play for fun and win with excitement.”
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In October 2019, 1-90 made more millionaires in the country with over One Thousand (1,000) winners emerged as a payout of One Billion, Five Hundred and Fifty-Five Million, Two Hundred and Fifteen Thousand, Four Hundred Leones (Le 1, 550, 215, 400.00) was made by the Company.
Lands Minister Inspects Sugar Loaf & Gloucester Saddle
 The Minister of Lands, Housing and Country Planning, Dr. Turad Senesie has embarked on state land site visits to the Sugar Loaf Community in Regent and Gloucester Saddle over the last two days.
Accompanied by his colleague Minister in the Ministry of Environment, Directors in the Lands Ministry and other state officials including the security forces, Minister Senesie’s mission was to inspect state land in a bid to ascertain the extent of encroachment and environmental degradation activities in those parts of the country.
In both communities, the minister observed an alarming rate of encroachment into forest reserve areas particularly, in addition to haphazard construction of structures with no proper community planning for roads and other necessary facilities.
At the Sugar Loaf Community, for example, a giant tree in the mountainous community recently collapsed and completely destroyed a dwelling house.
Such evidence of dangerous and unplanned construction, as witnessed in these two communities, represents a typical example of the negative trend across many communities in the country and the Lands Minister has expressed strong determination to reverse such.
Following the two days inspection tour on Monday and Tuesday, Minister Senesie ordered the Ministry’s Planning Directorate to develop a comprehensive and well-planned layout of the communities to include public facilities like schools, health centres, public toilets, cemetery, among others.
He further instructed the Director of Lands and Survey, Tamba Dauda, to invite all those with properties and claims to land in those communities to take their documents to the ministry for verification before a final decision is made.
The Minister has ordered all property owners in these communities to immediately stop any construction work or other related activities until further notice.
