[governance] Web payments

[Grace Githaiga]

McTimYou are right. And now the platform has gone one step further and does offer loans (Mshwari) to its users many of who have never operated a bank account. 
Let me give a practical example. I have a lady who runs errands and undertakes chores at my home. She has never been anywhere near the door of a banking hall. However with the coming of Mobile Money, she now uses Mpesa as her 'bank'. We therefore make payments to her through her cell number. In January, her daughter was joining high school. I wanted to find out if she needed some support and was surprised to learn that she had been saving in this 'bank' and since majority of schools have mpesa numbers, she paid fees through mpesa to the school. She does not need a bank. However, I have a bank account where I can transact using mpesa. 
And by the way, there are so many users of the service who have never been to school and therefore cannot read or write. Further, the mobile money service is a major reason that has contributed to the uptake of cell phones in particular for young women in slums (informal settlements). 
CheersGrace

PS. A couple of years ago when I got employed, I banked with Barclays Bank of Kenya. This was way before ATMs were introduced. I was therefore surprised on saturday morning on going to the bank to be told that they had moved my account out of that particular Branch because I was a small depositor. Needless to say that I was very desparate for the money. The banks treated small depositors with contempt and in Kenya, majority of these small ones bank on their phones, while there are those banks that have emerged as 'people friendly' ones. 

> From: dogwallah at gmail.com
> Date: Tue, 16 Apr 2013 19:02:20 -0400
> To: ca at cafonso.ca
> CC: governance at lists.igcaucus.org; ian.peter at ianpeter.com; nb at bollow.ch
> Subject: Re: [governance] Web payments
> 
> On Tue, Apr 16, 2013 at 5:44 PM, Carlos A. Afonso <ca at cafonso.ca> wrote:
> > McT, paying electronically without a bank, credit card or similar account is
> > impossible, unless billing is done against a postpaid cell phone account.
> 
> It's all pre-paid in Africa (over 90+ %).
> 
> As
> > Lavoisier suggested, money, like energy, is not created out of the blue
> > (except by govs :)). This "enormous success" might be referring to a
> > minority of people.
> 
> 
> Well a year ago when I left Kenya, a sum =20% of Kenya's GDP had already been
> transferred using one platform (M-Pesa).
> 
> -- 
> Cheers,
> 
> McTim
> "A name indicates what we seek. An address indicates where it is. A
> route indicates how we get there."  Jon Postel
> 
 		 	   		  
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