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hichamachir

M-Pesa And The Rise Of The Global Mobile Money Market - 1 views

  • Most people probably don’t think of Kenya as an innovation and technology hub, but in 2007 it became the launching pad for M-Pesa, a transformative mobile phone-based platform for money transfer and financial services.  Since then, M-Pesa has undergone explosive growth: in 2013, a staggering 43 percent of Kenya’s GDP flowed through M-Pesa, with over 237 million person-to-person transactions. M-Pesa is nearly ubiquitous in the daily lives of Kenyans due to a range of services that include money deposit and withdrawal, remittance delivery, bill payment, and microcredit provision.
  •  
    M-Pesa contribution to the local is just brilliant. The contribution to Kenya's GDP amazes me. I can say that innovation is always present in Africa and we just need to believe in our local ideas in order to improve the African countries. M-Pesa is a brilliant example.
kenza_abdelhaq

Egyptian fintech in 2020: A tale of crosswinds and tailwinds [Part One] - Wamda - 0 views

  • Fortunately, Egypt’s first Covid wave was milder than those in other countries. The country managed to get by without going into full lockdown and the country is now one of the few in the world with a positive gross domestic product (GDP) growth outlook for 2020. Despite the mild top-line hit, most startups still felt the impact of Covid-19, with a whopping 83.9 per cent indicating, in May, that they had been negatively impacted by the crisis. The same survey highlighted that 29 per cent of Egyptian startups had suspended operations – an alarming proportion that would have increased with the recent resurgence of the virus. It remains to be seen what the full impact of the second wave is.  
    • kenza_abdelhaq
       
      Egypt managed to have a positive GDP growth in 2020 even though the pandemic impacted negatively more than 80% of the startups.
  • If we look back on 2020, the largest funding rounds for Egyptian startups were not in fintech but healthcare and transport, with Vezeeta raising more than $40 million and Swvl more than $20 million. Yet, fintech still managed to make headlines on several occasions, including new regulations, high profile investment rounds and exciting launches. It was an eventful and exhilarating year for the fintech ecosystem in Egypt.
    • kenza_abdelhaq
       
      Even though more importance was given to healthcare and transport with regard to the largest funding rounds, fintech was still getting a lot of attention (making headlines, new regulations, etc).
  • Fawry’s success story has undoubtedly encouraged investments in other e-payments venture that will help dynamise this space in coming years. The industry is still massively underpenetrated as cash remains king but will remain as one of the more active areas within fintech in coming years.
    • kenza_abdelhaq
       
      Fawry being the leader of digital payments in Egypt definitely helped encourage investments in this field/industry.
  •  
    "Fortunately, Egypt's first Covid wave was milder than those in other countries. The country managed to get by without going into full lockdown and the country is now one of the few in the world with a positive gross domestic product (GDP) growth outlook for 2020. Despite the mild top-line hit, most startups still felt the impact of Covid-19, with a whopping 83.9 per cent indicating, in May, that they had been negatively impacted by the crisis. The same survey highlighted that 29 per cent of Egyptian startups had suspended operations - an alarming proportion that would have increased with the recent resurgence of the virus. It remains to be seen what the full impact of the second wave is.  "
hichamachir

Kenya Is Becoming a Global Hub of FinTech Innovation - 0 views

  • The country has seen skyrocketing mobile penetration rates, with subscriptions surpassing the total population amount by 12%, and FinTech innovations have followed. For example, the telecommunications giant Safaricom, which contributes 5% of the county’s GDP, led the push in 2007 with its M-Pesa money transfer service, which functions much like a limited mobile bank but without the need for an Internet connection. M-Pesa combines Safaricom’s mobile infrastructure with an agent model; Safaricom stores their balance and customers can go to one of 110,000 agents throughout the country to conduct transactions in person. The whole system runs on technology similar to text messaging, and has expanded to seven countries.
    • hichamachir
       
      Safaricom the company responsible for M-Pesa contribute with 5% to the GDP of Kenya. This data shows the influence of this company in Kenya.
ayoubb

FinTech in Sub-Saharan African Countries : FinTech in Sub-Saharan African Countries : A... - 0 views

  • SimbaPay is a UK-based digital money transfer service serving Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, and Ghana that delivers money via existing mobile money wallet services and using its SimbaPay app. Simbapay and Kenya’s Family Bank recently launched an instant payment service from East Africa to China. Users can send funds to China through Family Bank’s PesaPap app or Safaricom’s M-Pesa.
    • nourserghini
       
      This article shows the origin of SimbaPay that is the UK and its location which is kenya, Uganda, Nigeria and Ghana. The article also shows its services which are delivering money via mobile money wallet services or the app and instant payment service from East Africa to China.
  • Founded in 2009, Paga offers digital bank services (peer-to-peer money transfer, bill payments, online payments, and payroll), achieving a wide reach in Nigeria.
  • Financial intermediation and financial inclusion in sub-Saharan Africa remain low, despite progress in recent years. Helped by reforms, the depth and coverage of financial systems in sub-Saharan Africa—as measured by the standard indicators of financial development, such as the ratios of private sector credit to GDP and broad money to GDP—have significantly improved over the period 1995 to 2013 (Kasekende 2010). However, on average, countries in sub-Saharan Africa continue to have a shallower financial system than those in other developing regions of the world (Figure 1). In terms of financial inclusion, only 20 percent of the population has a bank account compared to 92 percent in advanced economies and 38 percent in nonadvanced economies (Table 1). Underinvestment, poor infrastructure, and comparatively low levels of financial literacy have contributed to the region being underbanked.
    • ayoubb
       
      FinTech in Sub-Saharan Africa
hibaerrai

Ghana's AgroCenta raises US$ 790k to scale its Agri-tech ecosystem - 0 views

  • Through AgroCenta’s CropChain platform, smallholder farmers can execute transactions with accurate information. Since the app’s launch, the average CropChain farmer’s income has increased by circa 35%.  AgroCenta says it has managed to reduce food waste by 25%.
    • tahaemsd
       
      via an all encompasing ecosystem approach, agrocenta blends cutting edge digital innovation with traditional on the ground operations to transform the lives of smallholder farmes in Ghana
  • Agriculture accounts for circa. 17% of Ghana’s GDP. Through its outreach and services, AgroCenta has increased crop yields of farmers by 40% thereby contributing to Ghana’s economy at large.
    • kenza_abdelhaq
       
      AgroCenta contributes to Ghana's economy by providing support to smallholder farmers along the value chain.
  • This funding was secured from UK charity Shell Foundation, the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), AV Ventures and Rabo Foundation. “This is a significant milestone for AgroCenta, having the support of leading institutions, particularly with the COVID-19 backdrop, underlining the strength of AgroCenta and the importance of its mission. The demand for agricultural raw materials from offtakers in the brewery, manufacturing and consumer sector is increasing exponentially because of the easing of the COVID-19 restrictions that were put in place by the government of Ghana, hence this capital injection will help to secure purchases at fair and transparent prices from smallholders — a much needed lifeline for many who are at the proverbial bottom of the pyramid”. Francis Obirikorang, AgroCenta’s CEO and Co-Founder Michael Ocansey said while highlighting the importance and criticality of this investment.
    • hibaerrai
       
      After the Covid-19 Outbreak, the situation in farms was quite challenging as lockdowns were imposed. Now with easier restrictions, AgroCenta raised a huge amount of funds in order to cover for the losses and develop its fintech more and more. This money should be used to develop programs and services that support financial inclusion.
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    "Agriculture accounts for circa. 17% of Ghana's GDP. Through its outreach and services, AgroCenta has increased crop yields of farmers by 40% thereby contributing to Ghana's economy at large."
sawsanenn

Is M-Pesa really Kenyan or British? - 1 views

  • Hailed as the “Kenyan technology success story”, many have claimed M-PESA to be a testimony to the greatness of the East African country’s technology scene, producing world-class technology companies that rival those in South Africa. However, is the acclaimed mobile money service really Kenyan at all? The answer is no. M-PESA is British.
    • hichamachir
       
      M-Pesa can be a british company but it's becoming part of the Kenyan culture. It's not important whether it's British or Kenyan, the most important thing is that M-Pesa revolutionized the Kenyan economy and played a huge role to develop the financial industry in Kenya.
  • By any stretch of the currently available facts, the service that accounts for more than 60 percent of Kenya’s GDP in transactions was conceived by British professionals. The company commissioned with developing the idea, Sagentia, into a workable technology was British. Additionally, the company that owns the intellectual property rights to the idea, Vodafone, is British and, lastly, it was funded in its initial stages by the British Government.
    • samielbaqqali
       
      M-Pesa may be a British business, but it is becoming a part of the culture of Kenya. Whether it's British or Kenyan, the most important thing is that M-Pesa has revolutionized the Kenyan economy and played a major role in the growth of Kenya's financial sector.
  • Nyagaka Anyona Ouko, a Kenyan from Nairobi, claims he is the innovator of M-Pesa and claims that Vodafone and its representatives stole the idea of Mobile Cash Transfer from him.
    • ghtazi
       
      there is a lot of perspectives about the fact that M-Pesa is not really a Kenyan product but a British product. Nyagaka Anyona Ouko, a Kenyan from Nairobi, claims he is the innovator of M-Pesa and accuses Vodafone of plagiarism. but the story vanished quicker than it appears.
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  • Despite this certificate being awarded in 2012 and being stated as being in the LITERARY category, Ouko insists he is the original M-PESA innovator and further elaborates by saying that he has been “trying to Patent a Money Transfer system way back in 2003”. Even though he says that he believes many more Kenyans contributed to the innovation and development of M-PESA without recognition or reward, he writes, “Even though I currently believe I am the one, I start this with an open mind. If another person or firm comes forward with compelling proof I am ready to step aside and support that person.”
  • By any stretch of the currently available facts, the service that accounts for more than 60 percent of Kenya’s GDP in transactions was conceived by British professionals. The company commissioned with developing the idea, Sagentia, into a workable technology was British. Additionally, the company that owns the intellectual property rights to the idea, Vodafone, is British and, lastly, it was funded in its initial stages by the British Government.
    • sawsanenn
       
      This excerpt is important because it shows how M-Pesa helped in the economic growth of Kenya. They also helped in expanding the fintech culture in the country
kenza_abdelhaq

Digital Innovation in Emerging Markets: A Case Study of Mobile Money | MIT CISR - 0 views

  • We describe the success of M-PESA in Kenya and the subsequent disappointment when M-PESA was replicated in Tanzania. We show how emerging markets are likely to be more different from than similar to one another. Thus, companies should consider a strategy of exploration as they attempt to expand within emerging markets. 
  • In 2008, a year after launching in Kenya, Vodafone attempted to replicate this success in neighboring Tanzania, a country that resembled Kenya in many important ways—size of population (40+ million) and main languages spoken (Swahili and English), as well as levels of literacy, unbanked, and mobile phone usage. But M-PESA in Tanzania did not grow on anything like the scale and scope of M-PESA in Kenya
  • M-PESA was initially developed by Vodafone as a mobile-based, microfinancing application funded partially by the UK Department for International Development to extend financial access to the unbanked populations in East Africa.
    • kenza_abdelhaq
       
      Developed by the mobile telecommunications company Vodafone, M-Pesa was first a microfinancing solution promoting financial inclusion in East Africa.
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  • Managed by the corporate social responsibility (CSR) group within Vodafone, M-PESA was designed for a niche market: microfinancing institutions and their clients. The project was intended to be low-cost, low-key, small in scale, and modest in scope—focused on addressing issues of financial inclusion within the developing world. 
    • kenza_abdelhaq
       
      M-Pesa's niche market: microfinancing institutions and their clients.
  • The redesigned M-PESA system launched in Kenya in April 2007, growing rapidly through uptake and user innovation of new services. Now used by over 17 million Kenyans—which is more than two-thirds of the adult population—it is estimated that annually some 31% of the country’s GDP flows through it.
    • kenza_abdelhaq
       
      - Important customer reach. - Facilitates the transfer of funds as 31% of the country's GDP flows through the platform.
  •  
    I think that this article shows something very important that we should into consideration in our capstone research. It shows how the same service was launched in very similar African countries, yet the penetration and growth results were far from the same. It's important because it shows that if we want to use a fintech strategy followed by a foreign company to an African one, it could result in very bad consequences even if this same strategy works for the foreign company.
  •  
    "M-PESA was initially developed by Vodafone as a mobile-based, microfinancing application funded partially by the UK Department for International Development to extend financial access to the unbanked populations in East Africa. Managed by the corporate social responsibility (CSR) group within Vodafone, M-PESA was designed for a niche market: microfinancing institutions and their clients. The project was intended to be low-cost, low-key, small in scale, and modest in scope-focused on addressing issues of financial inclusion within the developing world. "
hibaerrai

Kenyan Startup FarmDrive To Credit 3 Mn Farmers After Receiving Additional Investment -... - 0 views

  • It is estimated that the Agricultural sector in Africa contributes over 40 percent of GDP but receives less than 4 percent bank lending because of inadequate personal assets. The dynamic duo through FarmDrive have thus built a platform for smallholder farmers who didn’t have financial identities before to enable them access loans easily.
    • hibaerrai
       
      It is known that the agricultural sector in Africa is very important, however the lack of bank loans in that regard is absurd. This agritech helps lots of agricultors with their businesses, and covers for the very low lending percentage of banks.
nourserghini

Mobile currency in Kenya: the M-Pesa | Centre For Public Impact (CPI) - 0 views

  • M-Pesa “grew at a blistering pace following its inception in 2007.” [1] In less than two years from its launch, M-Pesa had become the leading money transfer method in the country, with over 50 percent of people sending money via M-Pesa and over 65 percent receiving funds through the system in 2009. By 2015 there were 19.9 million active M-Pesa users, up 18 percent from 2013/14. It is said that 43 percent of Kenya's GDP flowed through M-Pesa, with over 237 million person-to-person transactions.
    • kenzabenessalah
       
      M-PESA grew tremendously as a company that over 50% of people began using it.
  • M-Pesa is an SMS-based system that enables users to deposit, send and withdraw funds using their mobile phone. Customers do not need to have a bank account and can transact at any of the country's 40,000 agent outlets. Registration and deposits are free and pricing for most other transactions is based on a tiered structure to allow even the lowest-income users to use the system. Transaction values are typically small, ranging from US$5 to US$30.
    • nourserghini
       
      This part shows that the range value of transactions are from 5 to 30 dollars. Pricing is also based on a structure to allow all income users to benefit from the service.
nouhaila_zaki

A Global Success from Kenya - Banking - Credit Suisse - 0 views

  • It is no exaggeration to say that Kenya's economy depends on M-Pesa. According to the Central Bank of Kenya, the value of all transactions between June 2013 and June 2014 represented 39 percent of the country's GDP. M-Pesa moves more than one billion Swiss francs per year, and in fiscal year 2014 it earned the parent company 268 million francs, an increase of 21.6 percent over the previous year.
    • nouhaila_zaki
       
      This excerpt is important because it highlights the role of M-Pesa as the backbone of the Kenyan economy, without which it may collapse.
  • It all started eight years ago – because of the family members who stayed home. As in most countries in sub-Saharan Africa, most of Kenya's population are farmers who live on the land. Young people in search of an education and jobs are drawn to the cities. If those earning money in the city wanted to support their parents financially, they long had to rely on uncertain and risky methods. They could send cash with a neighbor or a bus driver who happened to be driving through their village. Or they could send a postal money order, but that could take weeks, often failed to arrive, and in any case was possible only if the recipient had a post office box. This was about as unlikely as having a bank account.At the time, in 2007, several million Kenyans owned a cell phone with a Safaricom number. Then this phone number essentially became a virtual bank account number. Starting in March of that year, Safaricom customers could upload money to their cell phone and send it to other Safaricom customers. It arrived within minutes, and the recipient was informed with a text message. The money could be forwarded or received as cash from an M-Pesa agent.Two weeks after introducing the service, Safaricom had nearly 20,000 active M-Pesa users. After seven months, there were one million. Today,  20 million customers in Kenya are registered. More than 83,000 agents in cities and rural areas assist customers in uploading, sending and receiving money. Rural Kenyans with no banking options leaped from the agricultural age straight into the digital tomorrow.And transferring money from one cell phone to another was only the start. Today, users can pay their electricity and water bills, get cash from an ATM, buy airline tickets, add phone time, buy concert tickets, pay the taxi driver or butcher and take out a small loan, perhaps to purchase a solar panel that brings electricity to their home for the first time. 
    • nouhaila_zaki
       
      This excerpt is excellent at narrating how the idea of M-Pesa came to be. Indeed, the founders observed that when young people living in cities wanted to financially support their parents who are still in the countryside, they had to rely on risky and lengthy methods. Also, the founders observed that several million Kenyans owned a cellphone with a Safaricom number. Hence, they decided that this phone number would become a virtual bank account number to which Safaricom customers could upload money and send it to other Safaricom customers. Today, transferring money is not the only thing M-Pesa provides, since user can now pay their electricity and water bills, retrieve cash from ATMs, buy airline tickets, add phone time, buy concert tickets, pay taxi drivers or butchers or take loans, or even purchase a solar panel to bring electricity at home for the first time.
mehdibella

FarmDrive Helps Unbanked Farmers in Kenya | The Borgen Project - 0 views

  • FarmDrive combats this lack of financial visibility by calculating alternative credit scores for Kenyan smallholder farmers. The startup requires users to input their expenses, revenue and yield via SMS and creates a platform for farmers to record business activity. FarmDrive then uses a complex algorithm to combine individual financial information with additional factors like the climate in the farmer’s region.
    • tahaemsd
       
      farmdrive eliminates some of the risk for banks by considering both the self reported financial history of farmers as well as exogenous variables that will affect their crop yields
  • By accruing farmer data, FarmDrive eliminates some of the risk for banks. FarmDrive has partnered with African financial firms who accept their alternative credit scores and determine appropriate loans for smallholder farmers. Lending institutions thus consider both the self-reported financial history of farmers as well as exogenous variables that will affect their crop yields.
    • mehdibella
       
      FarmDrive collects data from farmers via and combines it with satellite imaging, alternative data points to create detailed yield estimates and assess credit risk.
  • FarmDrive depends on aid organizations, like USAID, and private firms that operate in the agricultural industry. FarmDrive is expanding its data collection through new partnerships with Planet, a satellite company, and The Impact Lab, a data analytics group, to potentially incorporate climate information gathered via satellite imagery into its algorithm.
    • kenza_abdelhaq
       
      In addition to financial firms, FramDrive partners up with aid organizations, private firms operating in the agricultural industry, satellite company, and a data analytics group.
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  • There are 50 million smallholder farmers in Kenya, but less than 10 percent of this population has their economic needs fulfilled by traditional lenders. The agricultural sector makes up 32 percent of Africa’s GDP and employs 65 percent of its population, but less than 1 percent of bank lending goes to agriculture. Worldwide, there is an estimated $450 billion agricultural lending gap. African smallholder farmers face barriers to traditional lending because they are labeled high-risk borrowers by financial institutions. Traditional banks use credit scores and bank statements to determine a loan applicant’s riskiness. However, the average farmer in Africa cultivates fewer than five acres of land and owns no collateral or financial records.
    • aminej
       
      Unfortunaely for most farmers, they can't access credit from traditional banks because they are considered as high risk borrowers since they face many risks such as climate change, theft, lack of fertilizers. Now, through farmdrive everything changed with these new Fintechs who started giving more importance to farmers
ayachehbouni

How Digital Technology Is Changing Farming in Africa - 0 views

  • FarmDrive, a Kenyan enterprise, connects unbanked and underserved smallholder farmers to credit, while helping financial institutions cost-effectively increase their agricultural loan portfolios.
    • ayachehbouni
       
      Agriculture accounts for more than 30% of the continent's GDP and employs more than 60% of its working population. I believe that the agricultural sector may be the most important one in Africa, which is why many financial solutions saw the light in order to help farmers. Farmdrive is one of these solutions.
mehdibella

Kiva Receives USAID Design Funding to Structure Innovative $100M Fund to Support 1 Mill... - 0 views

  • Kiva has been awarded $2.5 million from the W-GDP Fund at USAID in an effort to identify innovative approaches to catalyze commercial investment for women’s economic empowerment and equality.
  • The Kiva Capital team will use this innovative funding to launch a comprehensive fund design and structuring process. This will include the development of an impact framework and a shared learnings platform.
mehdibella

FarmDrive - 0 views

  • FarmDrive’s alternative credit risk assessment model is providing financial institutions with an agriculturally relevant and data-driven model to assess risk and develop loans that fit the needs of smallholder farmers. Not only will this solution unlock millions of dollars of previously risk-averse capital for smallholder farmers, it will improve the livelihoods of entire communities, thereby alleviating poverty, hunger, and inequalities.
    • sawsanenn
       
      FarmDrive overlaps our focus areas of agriculture and financial inclusion, empowering the world's most vulnerable farmers with the digital financial services they need to strengthen and improve their livelihoods. FarmDrive connected to various partners and expertise to help them scale, as its usage increases in other developing markets in sub-Saharan Africa.
  • Nearly 50 million smallholder farmers in Africa are struggling to support their families and communities through agri-business because less than 10% have their economic needs met by the financial sector. Without access to credit, they remain unable to purchase quality inputs, make productive investments, and improve their production and harvests.
    • sawsanenn
       
      While financial inclusion in the country has increased, many farmers remain excluded. Limited financing for farmers is due, in part, to a lack of available credible risk-assessment information for financial institutions.
  • FarmDrive’s alternative credit risk assessment model is providing financial institutions with an agriculturally relevant and data-driven model to assess risk and develop loans that fit the needs of smallholder farmers. Not only will this solution unlock millions of dollars of previously risk-averse capital for smallholder farmers, it will improve the livelihoods of entire communities, thereby alleviating poverty, hunger, and inequalities.
    • aminej
       
      FarmDrive helps small holder farmers get access to credit and funding in order to develop more and improve their capabilities and ressources. They also offer another service that consist of giving a score to each farmer according to his credits which is a good way to evaluate each one and to include more people that are unbanked.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • FarmDrive uses mobile phones, alternative data, and machine learning to close the critical data gap that prevents financial institutions from lending to creditworthy smallholder farmers.
  • $450 Billion Financing Gap Agriculture employs 65% of Africa’s population and makes up 32% of its GDP. However, less than 1% of bank lending in Africa goes to agriculture. In absence of accurate and cost-effective methods for assessing small-scale agricultural lending risk, financial institutions choose not to lend to smallholder farmers, thereby contributing to the $450 billion global agriculture financing gap.
    • mehdibella
       
      Not only will this solution unlock millions of dollars of previously risk-averse capital for smallholder farmers, it will improve the livelihoods of entire communities as the GDPR is maiinly based on agriculture these similar technologies help push it over the limit.
  •  
    This excerpt is important because FarmDrive tries to gather all data needed to create loans that suit farmers situations.
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