Opinion
An African idea about to go global
In the case of M-PESA, money transfer that used to take days through the bank, or even weeks through person-to-person courier was now completed with the simple touch of a button on the mobile phone. The simplicity of the system did not require the sender or receiver of the funds to be particularly adept in using technology or even literate.
It was so simple that anyone could use it with little risk of messing up. Today, as much as US $340 million is transferred every month through the M-PESA system, making it one of the most successful money transfer systems on the African continent.
Taking the M-PESA concept of the cashless wallet on step further, banks see more smartphones being equipped with what is known as Near Field Communications (NFC) chips. A person wielding an NFC-enabled Smartphone waves it in front of special readers at the cashier, instantly transferring the correct amount from the chip into the account of the merchant, no cash, no sweat.
Already such technology is used in some fast-food outlets as well as gas stations in North America. But now the potential exist for millions of Smartphone users to make daily transactions worth billions to businesses, banks and, of course, telecommunication companies. It is a win-win for everyone.
The only disappointing part in all of this is that the originators of mobile phones as mobile banks did not register a patent to ensure huge profits from the invention well beyond the original investment that went into it. As it is, the idea of using mobile phones as mobile banks will expand to the global market to the point when, one day, it will replace paper and coin money.
Still, the invention of the mobile phone banking system on continental Africa, where the vast majority of the population must continually evolve with the times in order to survive, speaks to the insatiable appetite of Africans to use technology to improve their lives.
Toiling long hours in the workshops to invent new uses for just about everything is a necessity that is cultivated at all levels of the African economy. The mantra is simple enough: If it does not exist, the innovative African mind knows that it must be invented.
