10.13.07
A Happy Story
Unserved by banks, poor Kenyans now just use a cellphone
This is exactly the kind of revolutionary, yet concrete, change that technology has promised to bring to development.
In short: traditional banks don’t see a lot of value in serving the poor, because the transaction and administrative costs tend to exceed potential profits. Along comes M-PESA, a cell-banking service run by Safaricom (Kenya’s largest cellphone company), and lo and behold - administrative costs are reduced to the point where the business model is economically worthwhile.