(Photo Credit:Katrina?Shakarian)KIVA.org
Although there is a growing middle class in Africa, the lack of basic services, adequate infrastructure and access to banking are still pervasive. Rather than completely stifling growth, these deficiencies have become fertile ground for innovators whipping up solutions and products customized for the continent. In Africa, developmental challenges can be synonymous with opportunity. ?We thank God for giving us many problems so that we can find solutions,? joked Kenyan Information and Communication secretary Bitange Ndemo to the?Daily Nation?at an IBM forum in February. Here?s a glimpse of a few of those innovations, both homegrown and imported by global entrepreneurs, that are putting Nairobi on the map.
M-PESA: Mobile Money Transfers
It?s impossible to drive through Kenyan towns and cities without seeing the token M-PESA kiosk radiating bright green through the comings and goings of daily life. In 2007, Kenya?s leading mobile network operator, Safaricom, revolutionized the movement of money in the country with M-PESA; an SMS based banking system that now accounts for millions of shillings in money transfers everyday. Prior to M-PESA, the average Kenyan did not have access to financial services and money had no means of moving around the country fluidly. Since 26 million Kenyans have become mobile subscribers, M-PESA usership has also grown.?According to South African writer, Joonji Mdyogolo, ?M-Pesa processes more transactions in Kenya than Western Union does around the world.??Low, middle and high income Kenyans have all adopted the most distinguishing feature of Kenya?s new era in cellular technology, mobile money. Since it?s SMS based; even a simple cell phone without internet capabilties will due. ?Kenya is the undisputed world leader in mobile money (bankless transactions via cellphones), a development introduced in 2007 by cellphone operator Safaricom, which now handles more than half the world?s mobile money transfers. As Kenyans leapfrogged from no bank accounts or Internet into cellphones and mobile money, the transfers took off,? said Robyn Dixon of the Los Angeles Times.
InVenture: SMS Based Accounting
Safaricom is not the only business tapping into the unbanked and designing products that circumvent some of the developmental challenges on the continent.??CIO just named InVenture one of the 7 Hot Mobile Start Ups to Watch in 2013.?InVenture?is a California based start-up. Their product, Insight, is a simple SMS based accounting tool that enables low to middle income businesses to track their finances and better manage their money. The product, first launched in India and now entering Africa via Kenya?s mobile application scene, compiles customer data and generates a standardized global credit score. Once Insight takes off, low to middle income Kenyans, with previously no way of building a credit history, can do so. No internet? No smartphone? Inventure says, that?s no longer a problem.
Kiva Zip: SMS Based Crowd Funding
Kiva is no stranger to Kenya?s burgeoning mobile technology scene either. One year ago, the non-profit launched?Kiva Zip, an SMS based micro-lending pilot that connects lenders and borrowers through M-PESA. Since no banks or micro-finance institutions are involved, the loan is administered at 0% interest. Lenders from the world over are contributing to loans in Kenya , which are received and repaid entirely on mobile phones.
Ushahidi: Real Time Information Aggregate
Ushahidi, which means ?testimony? in Swahili, is a social media platform on which users can map out eye witness accounts of crisis, violence and protests in real time.?Ushahidi is a non-profit tech company that develops free and open source software for information collection, visualization and interactive mapping.?Users send reports of trouble through e-mail, text message or twitter that are inserted into an interactive map online.
In 2008, a group of Kenyan developers and bloggers created Ushahidi in response to the post-election violence sweeping their country. According to the?Daily Nation, ?Ushaidi maps crisis using a combination of Google mapping tools and crowd-sourced information.? Currently, the platform is used in 159 countries and has been translated into 39 languages.?In 2010, for example, residents of Washing D.C. residents and New York utilized Ushahidi?s platform to report on and respond to the clean up effort surrounding major snow storms that hit both areas.
The Ushahidi staff launched an alternate website,?Uchaguzi, specifically for the Kenyan election on Monday, March 4th. Kenyans are encouraged to text their reports and locations to Uchaguzi at ?3002.? In addition to documenting citizen reports, the site offers a comprehensive guide to governmental policies and procedures related to the election.
(Photo Credit:?https://uchaguzi.co.ke/)
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