USSD Registration for Savings Groups in Ghana: SMS & Voice

JDJoseph Dugu NarteyNovember 2, 202611 min read

USSD registration for savings groups in Ghana: a feature phone showing a reminder-language prompt, a group's register, an SMS receipt and a recorded Twi voice reminder

USSD registration for savings groups in Ghana works in three parts. A member dials your code on any phone and answers a few prompts, your officer or your system sends an SMS receipt for each registration and recorded contribution, and a recorded Twi voice message reminds members before each collection date. Arkesel sells all three parts (USSD Solutions, the SMS Platform and Voice SMS), so the examples here use our products.

None of these products collects, holds or moves money. Contributions still run through your group’s own mobile-money or bank arrangement. You keep the register, whether that is a spreadsheet or a paper book, so if you are comparing this with susu collection software or a savings group management system, expect to keep your ledger in your own records.

This setup suits a susu scheme, a village savings and loan association or a small cooperative whose members use feature phones with no data. Ghana’s Ministry of Finance, citing Savings Groups Information Exchange data for 2021, counted 34,112 savings groups with 852,800 members, an average of 25 members per group. With groups that size, we think a shared code and an officer sending receipts from a phone browser can be enough, once you know how registration entries will reach that officer.

How does USSD registration for savings groups in Ghana work from start to finish?

Step	What the member experiences	What you set up
Register	Dials your code, answers up to four prompts, sees a confirmation screen	A shared USSD code and a short menu from your developer, or from Arkesel, if it confirms managed setup for your code. An officer moves each entry into your register, once you know how entries reach them.
Registration receipt	Gets an SMS under your group’s name	An approved sender ID. An officer or your developer’s system sends each receipt.
Due-date reminder	Answers a call and hears a recorded Twi message	An officer uploads the audio file and schedules a broadcast for that collection date
Contribution	Pays through your mobile-money or bank arrangement	No Arkesel product. An officer or your system confirms the payment.
Contribution receipt	Gets an SMS showing the amount and date	An officer or your developer’s system sends it once the payment is on your record

Our suggested order is the sender ID first, because every receipt depends on it, then the code and menu, then the audio.

Step 1: How do members register over USSD?

A member dials your code, answers up to four short prompts and sees a confirmation screen. USSD needs no app and no mobile data, and it works on feature phones, which is the wider case our guide on USSD for business in Africa explains. In Tema, the Ghana News Agency reports that North Tema Cooperative Credit Union launched a USSD code in July 2026, so that members without internet access can check balances, make deposits and buy airtime. The report does not name the provider.

Should you start on a shared code or a dedicated code?

Start on a shared code if you run a savings group or a small cooperative. A shared code is an extension of a code that has already been assigned, and it is self-serve after signup. Choose a dedicated code only if you are a credit union that wants a branded code.

A dedicated code requires assignment by the National Communications Authority (NCA) and goes through Arkesel’s sales team. Arkesel guides you through that application but does not file it for you, and your organisation must be a registered business in Ghana. See how to create a USSD code for your business in Ghana for the steps and how to choose a USSD shortcode provider for the comparison.

How long can the registration session last?

A USSD session stays open for about 150 to 180 seconds, and the mobile network sets that limit, so you cannot extend it. Our suggestion is four prompts at most:

Enter your member ID, or your full name if you have no ID.
Enter your group code.
Choose your reminder language: 1 for Twi, 2 for English.
Confirm these details: 1 to confirm, 2 to start again.

Our USSD menu design best practices cover the wording of each screen.

Who builds the menu?

If you have a developer, build on the Arkesel USSD API, using the Arkesel developer documentation for the request details, and agree where each entry is stored. Our guide on connecting a USSD menu to your own backend shows where that link sits.

If you have no developer, ask for managed setup, where Arkesel builds the USSD menu for you. The rest of your workflow depends on what happens to each entry, so ask Arkesel these questions before you pay:

Is managed setup available on a shared code, and for a group our size?
Where do registration entries land, and how does our officer retrieve them?
Does each entry include the member’s phone number and language choice?
Can an entry trigger an SMS receipt?

Unless Arkesel tells you otherwise, plan on an officer sending every registration receipt by hand.

If you cannot get a workable answer, our suggestion is to register members in person, writing each phone number and language choice in your register. The SMS receipts and Twi reminders need only an uploaded list, and you can add the USSD menu later.

Step 2: What should the SMS confirmation for cooperative members say?

Send an SMS confirmation to cooperative members after each registration and each recorded contribution. Arkesel SMS is one-way, which means the platform does not receive SMS replies, so a member who spots a mistake needs the officer’s number in the message.

Receipts should arrive under your group’s name, known as a sender ID, so register your sender ID early. Arkesel submits the sender ID to the Ghanaian mobile networks. The NCA does not register sender IDs.

This template is our suggestion:

Received [amount] from member [member ID], [group name], on [date]. Officer: [officer name]. Queries: call [officer number].

For a registration receipt, replace the opening with “Registered as member [member ID]”. Keep it short, because a message that splits into segments is billed as several messages.

If an officer sends receipts by hand, prepare an Excel file of that day’s entries with columns for phone number, amount, member ID and date. If you keep a paper book, build the file in a spreadsheet app on a phone or computer, or have a deputy do it. Fill every cell, because the message has no confirmed fallback for a blank field. For registration receipts, leave out the amount column. Upload the file to Arkesel bulk SMS and pick those columns as fields in the message. The web dashboard works fully in a phone’s mobile browser.
If a developer runs your system, have it send each receipt once the payment is recorded. Our guide to sending an SMS automatically when a payment event reaches your server shows the pattern, and the Arkesel developer documentation has the request details.

After sending, open your SMS delivery reports. The platform normally updates a message’s status within about one minute of delivery, per recipient. It does not send failure alerts, so someone needs to look.

Without a developer, one person may end up confirming, sending and correcting. We suggest naming a deputy for when the officer is away, and having a second person check every correction and deduction.

Step 3: How do you send a monthly reminder in Twi to members who cannot read SMS?

Upload a Twi recording and schedule it as a broadcast (one recording sent as calls to a list). Voice helps members who cannot read a text, because they hear the message when they answer the call.

Ask a fluent Twi speaker to record your script.
Save the recording as an MP3 or WAV file.
Upload the file to Arkesel Voice SMS, which plays your recording to each member.
Prepare a list, from your register, of the members who chose Twi.
Upload or select that list for the broadcast.
Schedule the broadcast for this collection cycle.

Set up a new broadcast for each cycle. Members who chose English need their own broadcast, where typed text is an option. For Twi, plan on a recording. Your account dashboard shows the current recording options.

Here is a script we suggest having translated:

This is [group name]. Your contribution is due on [date]. Please pay in the usual way. If you have a question, call [officer name] on [number].

One recording carries the same words to everyone, so leave out individual balances. We suggest sending it a day or two before the collection date, at an hour your members can take calls.

Members who prefer text can get the same notice as an SMS, uploaded and sent the same way as your receipts. If a member asks to stop the reminders, take the request on the officer’s phone number and remove that number from the reminder list only. Keep the member in your register, because receipts still go to that number.

Members who cannot read get the voice reminder, but they cannot use the USSD prompts or the SMS receipt alone. An officer or relative can help with those, and we suggest keeping whatever record they already trust, such as a passbook or a read-out at the meeting.

What do reminders achieve?

Reminders did not raise savings in the Ghana trials. In a 2016–2017 evaluation by Innovations for Poverty Action covering 263,503 Fidelity Bank clients without an existing loan, preliminary results found that reminders to save led people to use their accounts more frequently but did not increase savings.

In a J-PAL evaluation with Opportunity International Savings and Loans, 15,000 clients were assigned to calls about mobile banking, calls about saving or a comparison group. Clients who received calls about mobile banking were more likely to use it and to repay loans on time. Neither kind of call encouraged people to save.

Both studies looked at bank or savings-and-loan clients, not susu schemes or savings groups. Our reading is that you can promise members a clear notice and a record they can keep, but should not promise bigger deposits.

How should you handle deposits, corrections and deductions?

A member saying they have paid is not proof of payment, so we suggest sending the contribution receipt only after an officer or your system has confirmed the payment.

Before you change anything in a member’s record, save a dated copy of the whole register: a spreadsheet saved under a new name with today’s date, or photographs of the pages if you keep a paper book. This procedure is our suggestion.

For a query about one receipt:

If a member queries a receipt, compare it with your mobile-money or bank statement for that payment.
If the statement agrees with the receipt, tell the member that no change is needed.
If the receipt shows the wrong amount, and only after you have made that copy, correct that one entry.

For a deduction: if your group’s rules allow one, and only after you have made that copy, apply it to that member’s entry.

For a change covering many members:

Only after you have made that copy, write down the new figure you expect for one member.
Apply the change to that one member.
If that entry matches the figure you wrote down, apply the change to the rest.
If it does not match, stop and restore that entry from your copy.
If you restored an entry, leave the other members unchanged until you know why the check failed.

After any change, send each affected member a new SMS stating the old figure, the new figure and the reason.

What can’t this workflow do?

SMS cannot take replies, so corrections go through the group officer.
Balance checks are outside this workflow. The suggested menu only registers members, so a member asks the officer.
A USSD session ends after about 150 to 180 seconds, and you cannot change that.
USSD and Voice SMS are available in Ghana only, so the combined workflow cannot run elsewhere.
No Arkesel product collects, holds or moves contributions.

Frequently asked questions

Which provider in Ghana offers USSD, SMS and voice messaging from one account?

Arkesel offers USSD Solutions, the SMS Platform and Voice SMS, and one Arkesel login reaches all three. Each product keeps its own dashboard and billing.

Do I need my own USSD shortcode?

Not at the start. Savings groups and small cooperatives can begin on a shared code, which is self-serve after signup.

Can a member reply to the SMS confirmation?

No. Arkesel SMS is one-way, so print the officer’s number in the message and handle corrections through the officer.

Does Arkesel collect the contributions, or only confirm them?

Arkesel collects nothing. It carries the menu and the messages, and members pay through your group’s own mobile-money or bank arrangement.

Do SMS and voice reminders make members save more?

Not on the evidence so far. The two Ghana trials above studied bank and savings-and-loan clients and found no increase in savings. Use reminders to announce due dates.

What does it cost, and how do you start?

Check current pricing before you commit. A new account receives free credits on signup for SMS and Voice SMS only. The credits do not cover USSD.

Create an Arkesel account to set up a shared USSD code and request your sender ID. If you have no developer and need the managed-setup answers above, or you are a credit union that wants a dedicated code, talk to the Arkesel team about a dedicated code or managed setup.