With respect, I disagree. -MPESA, while highly innovative, is a system grown and maintained by a telco monopoly. People need to stop assuming it's a startup (I

With respect, I disagree. -MPESA, while highly innovative, is a system grown and maintained by a telco monopoly. People need to stop assuming it's a startup (I don't think you are, but every time it's mentioned that's the context. Safaricom is an old, sprawling conglomerate with massive government links and a UK telco shareholder). -Smartphone penetration is still in between (depending on data source) the low twenties and low thirties. Data usage is even lower - we're still in a country with a GDP/capita of 1,200 USD and average incomes in Nairobi of 200 USD/month. -Uber is cool, and has achieved decent penetration among high-income locals and expats. However, at current costs it is far out of reach of what we'd even consider middle class Kenyans. Things are absolutely going in the right direction, but nowhere near as fast as the hype suggests (especially with respect to income growth and smartphone adoption). For context: I've lived and worked in the Kenyan tech sector for several years.