5 ms·

Kenya’s mobile telephones: Vital for the poor

42 points by denzil_correa 14y ago

denzil_correa 14y ago
> The real breakthrough in the Kenyan market has been in people’s ability to send and receive money, with more than two-thirds doing so by phone. East Africa’s biggest success has been M-Pesa, a mobile-based money-transfer system pioneered by Safaricom, a leading Kenyan operator. Its simple interface, which works on any phone, has brought financial services to Kenya’s poor majority, enabling the movement of some $8.6 billion in the first half of this year. These examples show that applications of any particular technology can vary from a developed country to a developing or a poor country. I also think such solutions will help reduce latency, corruption and inconsistencies leading to much better governance.
npguy 14y ago
Here is something we spotted: that one-fourth of Kenya's GDP flows through this mobile payment system called mPesa http://statspotting.com/2011/04/kenyas-m-pesa-the-unbelievable-success-story-in-numbers/ http://statspotting.com/2011/04/kenyas-m-pesa-the-unbelievab...
- denzil_correa 14y ago
  TFS - I see you draw heavily from a report from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation [0]. I found this part very interesting. > Safaricom also benefited from launching the service in a country which contained several enabling conditions for a successful mobile money deployment, including: strong latent demand for domestic remittances, poor quality of available financial services, a banking regulator which permitted Safaricom to experiment with different business models and distribution channels, and a mobile communications market characterized by Safaricom’s dominant market position and low commissions on airtime sales. If these indeed are the parameters, one should make a list of countries which satisfy these requirements and do some compare/contrast study. [0] http://www.microfinancegateway.org/gm/document-1.9.43376/Mobile%20Payments%20Go%20Viral_M-PESA%20in%20Kenya.pdf http://www.microfinancegateway.org/gm/document-1.9.43376/Mob...
davycro 14y ago
> Almost half of those surveyed were using internet-enabled smart or “feature” phones. The scratch cards that many Kenyans use to charge their mobiles have recently begun to advertise their value in terms of data rather than talk time. Meanwhile, mobile-phone operators have been giving free access to sites such as Wikipedia to entice customers. > Still, only 16% of respondents said they were using their phones to browse the internet. The iHub report I read said that 88% of Kenyans browse the Internet with their mobile phone instead of 16%. The same report says that 99% of Internet access from Kenya is through a mobile device. I think the Western world assumes people in developing countries are dependent on computers for Internet access because of the popularity of the One Laptop Per Child program. I think we should recognize that the developing world will probably never have the resources or desire to adopt laptops or personal computers and so we should instead focus on providing them with web-content sized for their devices and hardware organizations such as OLPC should look into reducing the cost of smartphones. In my personal experience an android device in Africa costs at minimum of $200. Reading this article reminds me that there is a huge demand for mobile Internet in developing world and few companies are capitalizing on this.
- sparky 14y ago
  >> Still, only 16% of respondents said they were using their phones to browse the internet. > The iHub report I read said that 88% of Kenyans browse the Internet with their mobile phone Maybe 18.2% of Kenyans browse the internet at all, and 88% of those (16% of all Kenyans) do it on their phones?
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
- denzil_correa 14y ago
  > Reading this article reminds me that there is a huge demand for mobile Internet in developing world and few companies are capitalizing on this. I think IBM has recognized this and they are indeed trying to develop unique solutions. I know of one project called "Spoken Web" which is an Internet of spoken websites than traditional textual content. This was meant for people who can't read or write but can speak in local languages. There was at least one pilot study which was conducted with farmers. I guess they have even deployed the solution in one of the Indian states. [0] http://researcher.watson.ibm.com/researcher/view_project.php?id=2997 http://researcher.watson.ibm.com/researcher/view_project.php...
barking 14y ago
I often wonder why we can't have something similar here already. Seems like the perfect way for parents to send their kids money at short notice.
- jarcoal 14y ago
  Well, we do have some options here, but part of the reason why it was so easy to setup over there is lack of laws around the movement of money.
  - guylhem 14y ago
    As usual, laws prevent innovations to protect the incumbent (banks and credit card companies)
- HarryHirsch 14y ago
  The solution for that exists, and is called Paypal, but the general perception seems that that service is shady.
namank 14y ago
Meanwhile, mobile-phone operators have been giving free access to sites such as Wikipedia to entice customers. This is great!
- revelation 14y ago
  Am I being pessimist in thinking that this is just a test for "value-added" services that will in the future charge you for access to select websites or services? Net neutrality dies with free wikipedia and blocked Skype.
  - namank 14y ago
    No, you aren't but one step at a time! Although, wouldn't Facebook better serve that purpose assuming FB is as popular there as it is here?

42 points by denzil_correa 14y ago

> The real breakthrough in the Kenyan market has been in people’s ability to send and receive money, with more than two-thirds doing so by phone. East Africa’s biggest success has been M-Pesa, a mobile-based money-transfer system pioneered by Safaricom, a leading Kenyan operator. Its simple interface, which works on any phone, has brought financial services to Kenya’s poor majority, enabling the movement of some $8.6 billion in the first half of this year. These examples show that applications of any particular technology can vary from a developed country to a developing or a poor country. I also think such solutions will help reduce latency, corruption and inconsistencies leading to much better governance.

npguy 14y ago

Here is something we spotted: that one-fourth of Kenya's GDP flows through this mobile payment system called mPesa http://statspotting.com/2011/04/kenyas-m-pesa-the-unbelievable-success-story-in-numbers/ http://statspotting.com/2011/04/kenyas-m-pesa-the-unbelievab...

denzil_correa 14y ago
TFS - I see you draw heavily from a report from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation [0]. I found this part very interesting. > Safaricom also benefited from launching the service in a country which contained several enabling conditions for a successful mobile money deployment, including: strong latent demand for domestic remittances, poor quality of available financial services, a banking regulator which permitted Safaricom to experiment with different business models and distribution channels, and a mobile communications market characterized by Safaricom’s dominant market position and low commissions on airtime sales. If these indeed are the parameters, one should make a list of countries which satisfy these requirements and do some compare/contrast study. [0] http://www.microfinancegateway.org/gm/document-1.9.43376/Mobile%20Payments%20Go%20Viral_M-PESA%20in%20Kenya.pdf http://www.microfinancegateway.org/gm/document-1.9.43376/Mob...

davycro 14y ago

> Almost half of those surveyed were using internet-enabled smart or “feature” phones. The scratch cards that many Kenyans use to charge their mobiles have recently begun to advertise their value in terms of data rather than talk time. Meanwhile, mobile-phone operators have been giving free access to sites such as Wikipedia to entice customers. > Still, only 16% of respondents said they were using their phones to browse the internet. The iHub report I read said that 88% of Kenyans browse the Internet with their mobile phone instead of 16%. The same report says that 99% of Internet access from Kenya is through a mobile device. I think the Western world assumes people in developing countries are dependent on computers for Internet access because of the popularity of the One Laptop Per Child program. I think we should recognize that the developing world will probably never have the resources or desire to adopt laptops or personal computers and so we should instead focus on providing them with web-content sized for their devices and hardware organizations such as OLPC should look into reducing the cost of smartphones. In my personal experience an android device in Africa costs at minimum of $200. Reading this article reminds me that there is a huge demand for mobile Internet in developing world and few companies are capitalizing on this.

sparky 14y ago
>> Still, only 16% of respondents said they were using their phones to browse the internet. > The iHub report I read said that 88% of Kenyans browse the Internet with their mobile phone Maybe 18.2% of Kenyans browse the internet at all, and 88% of those (16% of all Kenyans) do it on their phones?
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
denzil_correa 14y ago
> Reading this article reminds me that there is a huge demand for mobile Internet in developing world and few companies are capitalizing on this. I think IBM has recognized this and they are indeed trying to develop unique solutions. I know of one project called "Spoken Web" which is an Internet of spoken websites than traditional textual content. This was meant for people who can't read or write but can speak in local languages. There was at least one pilot study which was conducted with farmers. I guess they have even deployed the solution in one of the Indian states. [0] http://researcher.watson.ibm.com/researcher/view_project.php?id=2997 http://researcher.watson.ibm.com/researcher/view_project.php...

barking 14y ago

I often wonder why we can't have something similar here already. Seems like the perfect way for parents to send their kids money at short notice.

jarcoal 14y ago
Well, we do have some options here, but part of the reason why it was so easy to setup over there is lack of laws around the movement of money.
- guylhem 14y ago
  As usual, laws prevent innovations to protect the incumbent (banks and credit card companies)
HarryHirsch 14y ago
The solution for that exists, and is called Paypal, but the general perception seems that that service is shady.

namank 14y ago

Meanwhile, mobile-phone operators have been giving free access to sites such as Wikipedia to entice customers. This is great!

revelation 14y ago
Am I being pessimist in thinking that this is just a test for "value-added" services that will in the future charge you for access to select websites or services? Net neutrality dies with free wikipedia and blocked Skype.
- namank 14y ago
  No, you aren't but one step at a time! Although, wouldn't Facebook better serve that purpose assuming FB is as popular there as it is here?