Showing posts with label CNBC. Show all posts
Thursday, 4 December 2014
M-Pesa Receives Major Praise From the God-Father of Tech, Bill Gates
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.
Tuesday, 25 November 2014
Tabitha Karanja wins CNBC Africa Business Woman of the Year award
The award recognised her unfailing resilience and matchless business sagacity over nearly two decades in growing a company that now employs over 300 people and gives back to the community by educating the country’s youth.
Mrs Karanja beat West Africa’s Arunma Oteh, who is the Director General of Securities and Exchange Commission, Nigeria to bring home the coveted Africa Business Woman of the Year title.
The process of getting winners in the 2014 AABLAs began over two months ago, with regional finals in West, East and Southern Africa. Pioneering and innovative business leaders of Africa in their respective fields were finally whittled down to just five game-changing individuals.
The ceremony presented the coveted title of Young Business Leader of the Year jointly to Group CEOs of South Africa’s leading activations agency, The Creative Counsel, Gil Oved and Ran Neu-Ner. The two were recognised for using their collective charisma and entrepreneurial spirit to build the company into the top-ranking Marketing, Media and Advertising group in the country.
For his sustained success and bold contribution to solutions-based business and IT strategies across multiple platforms for companies of varying sizes, Asher Bohbot (South Africa), CEO of Enterprise Outsourcing Holdings (EOH) Limited, was named Business Leader of the Year.
The prestigious accolade of Entrepreneur of the Year went to Executive Chairman of JSE-listed brokerage, Brimstone Investment Corporation, Fred Robertson (South Africa). Robertson was honoured for his demonstrated leadership on both the national and international business stages and, in particular, through his directorship and co-founding of numerous leading of Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) companies.
The Lifetime Achievement Award was bestowed upon Tanzanian pioneer of corporate social responsibility, Dr Reginald Mengi, CEO of IPP Limited, for his commendable contributions to worthy causes for positive change in underprivileged communities, education, health and environmental conservation.
The CNBC Africa All Africa Business Leaders Awards Presented by Johnnie Walker Blue Label now looks ahead to 2015, anticipating the emergence of new industry leaders and the continued success of business stalwarts on the continent.
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