But you realize it is a truly great invention when the likes of Bill Gates, a tech god-father in his own right, gives it a standing ovation.
With how Bill Gates praises M-Pesa you would expect that it would win a Nobel;
And turns out he’s actually been praising M-Pesa for years. Back in December of 2012, he dedicated a whole article on his blog Livemint.
“Usually, “optimism” and “realism” are used to describe two different outlooks on life. But I believe that a realistic appraisal of the human condition compels an optimistic worldview. I am particularly optimistic about the potential for technological innovation to improve the lives of the poorest people in the world. That is why I do the work that I do.”
But then he goes on to say that the way mobile phone technology has been used to revolutionize Africa, tempered his optimism.
According to him, M-Pesa is key to Africa’s digital empowerment. First it was the penetration of cellular technology in the continent and then building of applications that take advantage of the technology, applications like M-Pesa. But even they wouldn’t work alone, they would need supporting pillars in this case the thousands of M-Pesa agents creating a vast network that has aided Safaricom in getting M-Pesa to where it is today.
“Without
omnipresent cash points, M-Pesa would be no more convenient than
traditional ways of moving money around. At the same time, it was
impossible to persuade retail stores to sign on as cash points unless
there were enough M-Pesa subscribers to make it profitable for them.
This
kind of boot-strapping is exactly what we had to do at Microsoft Corp.
in the early years of the personal computer. No one wanted a machine
unless there was software, and no one would create software unless there
were machines. Microsoft convinced both hardware and software companies
to bet on future volume by showing how our platform would change the
rules.
There have been many successful small-scale pilot programmes using cellphones. But examples of large-scale, self-sustaining programmes powered by digital technology, like M-Pesa, are harder to find, because the key pieces have not been put into place to enable the required work to advance beyond the limits of controlled experiments.”
There have been many successful small-scale pilot programmes using cellphones. But examples of large-scale, self-sustaining programmes powered by digital technology, like M-Pesa, are harder to find, because the key pieces have not been put into place to enable the required work to advance beyond the limits of controlled experiments.”
You can read the full article here.
Using the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the former Microsoft
CEO has invested a lot in helping Africa develop especially in the field
of Agriculture.
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