Description

One of the saddest things about western loss of jobs caused by banking crises is that technology could have been making the basic process of transaction records up to 100 times less costly

There are countries where mobile cash is expanding the economy by empowering financial inclusion of the previously unbanked. Kenya's MPESA leads the way. USAID meeting

Also see the forthcoming book by Nick Sullivan. More fascinating write-ups on MPESA's success story can be googled

Sullivan's book now out - Amazon review:This book tells a tale of innovation, disruption, and transformation.
Mobile money, e-money, e-float, e-wallets, mobile banking, however you characterize it, is not just a cool app. It’s a killer app, the first for mobile phones in the developing world. It’s also a disruptive innovation that threatens incumbent businesses and is sparking new business formation and entrepreneurship.
Nowhere is this mobile money phenomenon more prevalent and successful than in Kenya. In five years, 19 million Kenyans, nearly 70% of the adult population, have signed up for mobile money services. Sixteen million are customers of M-PESA (‘M’ for Mobile and pesa means money in Swahili). Now, one out of every two people in the world who sends money over a mobile phone is a Kenyan. Mobile money is the rare case in which a poor African country is the global market leader and an exporter of innovation.
Funded by The Rockefeller Foundation

rsvp chris.macrae@yahoo.co.uk Where has MPESA inspired similar hi-trust digital cash :

Afghanistan - MPaisa'a> This report suggests that unlike the other links Mpaisa is not yet ready for use - reports wanted

Bangladesh -probably the most exciting benchmark : Bkash