(25 th MARCH 2021); The Samoa Business Hub – SBH & the Scaling Frontier Incubator – SFI ( a DFAT funded
SME development programme) in partnership with Sky eye, Digicel and Vodafone, hosted a one day e-
market information day on Wednesday 24 th March at the Salelologa market in Savaii, specifically on the
Maua app.
The Maua app is an online trading platform created by the team at Sky eye Samoa. The app is designed
to encourage, promote and enhance business trading utilising the internet to minimise transaction time,
and maximise ease of buying and selling goods and services. To register on to Maua app, you simply go
on to the internet and search for the app and click on it, this will provide you with the simple details of
the step by step process on how to sign up. In most part of the world, especially the developed
countries, credit and debit card facilities have replaced physical cash and make it easier to use online
trading platforms like the Maua app. In the case of Samoa these facilities are still in their infancy and
while progress has been made, it is still some time before the general public especially those in rural
communities can access them.
To facilitate payments for the transactions conducted on the app, and in the absence of a developed
credit and debit card facility, digital finance platforms such as Digicel’s “My Cash” and Vodafone’s
“MTala” are able to provide the support in bridging this gap.
The role of these products should not be underestimated and Samoa is very fortunate to have these
available pre-COVID19.