Mpesa Quotes

What could happen if we changed our emphasis from push to pull? What if much more of the $143 billion spent on official development assistance in 2016 was channeled to support direct market-creation efforts in poor countries, even when the circumstances seemed unlikely? Imagine how many markets could be created; imagine how many Tolarams, Nollywoods, M-PESAs, and other new-market creators could emerge; imagine how many jobs could be created. As I think about this problem, I can’t help but wonder how many fathers and mothers would be afforded the dignity of work and the resources to provide simple things for their families—like food, health care, and quality education. Imagine how many people would have a renewed sense of hope and purpose when they begin to see their suffering can become a thing of the past.

That led through feasibility to successful pilot, to this gigantic system that you see now, which is utterly stunning. The way it works is this: When you get a phone that has M-Pesa, you basically have an extra menu in your phone, which says, “Send money.” If I wanted to send you some money, I would choose the menu on my phone which says, “Brett”; I put in the amount of money I want to send; I put in a PIN; I hit “okay”; and then you get a message on your phone. It looks like I’ve texted the money to you, but that’s not quite what’s happening under the hood. The text message is going to a central server, which moves the money from one pot to another pot within the M-Pesa central account, and then it sends you a text message. But, to the customer, it looks like the money’s gone from one phone to another by text.

Paying for a taxi ride using your mobile phone is easier in Nairobi than it is in New York, thanks to Kenya’s world-leading mobile-money system, M-PESA.’1 This was the opening paragraph in The Economist’s article of 27 May 2013, ‘Why does Kenya lead the world in mobile money?

Kenya has been a trailblazer in mobile banking since launching its M-PESA mobile money service in 2007. Within six years, three quarters of all Kenyan adults had used the service, including 70 percent of those in rural areas, and—astonishingly—over 40 percent of Kenya’s GDP was passing through M-PESA.

M-Pesa, Kenya’s mobile-based money transfer system was launched in 2007. By 2012 it was used by over 17 million Kenyans, two-thirds of the adult population. About 25% of the country’s gross national product flows through it. M-

Eight months after launch, a million Kenyans were using M-Pesa. Today, it’s nearly the entire country.