“Living on $6 a day means you have a refrigerator; a TV, a cell phone, your children can go to school. That’s not possible on $1 a day.”
-Bill Gates
“Tech giants like Google, Facebook, and PayPal are all steadily rolling out new-fangled services to turn our smartphones into digital wallets -- replacing cash and checks. And it's been reported that Apple is working on a new payment option to let iPhone users send money directly to one another -- as easily as a text message.
If this all seems cutting edge, you may be surprised to learn there's one country that adopted mobile money years ago: Kenya.”
-Leslie Stahl : 60 Minutes
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60 Minutes just aired a terrific feature that highlighted the impact of Kenya's digital currency, M Pesa, which allows their citizens to send and receive money via text messages on their cell phones. The benefits to the country include greater financial inclusion, reduced crime and interestingly enough -- national pride. They are so proud of their technology advancements they have named themselves the Silicon Savannah! And that pride is well placed, because their digital currency adoption has placed them ahead of many countries we consider more advanced.
As a payments professional, however, I appreciate this advancement in Kenya as a demonstration of the pivotal role of payments in society. The impact that digital payments technology can have for financial inclusion around the world is dramatic and the implications to the banking industry are enormous. I told a story about M Pesa in my new book, BoxBreakers!, that demonstrates this very well. Many tribes in Africa forbid women to touch money, which has been supremely effective in keeping them down. (Imagine that.) However, those tribal leaders never conceived of a currency that could be accessed via a mobile device.
I told a story about M Pesa in my new book, BoxBreakers!, that demonstrates this very well. Many tribes in Africa forbid women to touch money, which has been supremely effective in keeping them down. (Imagine that.) However, those tribal leaders never conceived of a currency that could be accessed via a mobile device.
A lady we will call Ester lives in one of those villages outside of Nairobi; she is a mother of five who was never allowed to touch money. When M Pesa came along, her family situation was becoming dire because her husband spent most of what he made on banana beer. Thanks to a relationship with a local credit union, called a SACCO in Kenya, Ester was able to start her own business using M Pesa. And now she employs two of her sons and her husband, as well.
Her business? She makes banana beer.