M-PESA

M-PESA has become a significant part of the 'banking' scene in Kenya. Writing recently in the New York Times, Nick Kristof said;

“That’s why the most powerful idea in microfinance isn’t microloans, but microsavings — helping the poor safely store their money. And mobile phones offer a low-cost way to make microsavings feasible and extend financial services to the poor. About three-fourths of Haitians have access to a mobile phone, and similar numbers are found in many poor parts of the world.


Kenya has been a leader in mobile money, but many other developing countries in Africa, Asia and the Americas are now jumping on board as well. For the poor, mobile telephones could have as profound an impact on finance — on banking the unbanked — as they have on communications.

The following video is a recent M-PESA commercial. It says it all.