i am dedicating this blog to the cryptocurrency community - all of you who throw around the words "bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are best for the developing world like Africa'
How can you claim to want to save what you dont understand?
if you can't narrate this story , STFU! 1/
After spending time observing Kenyans on a Facebook group 52 week savings challenge with 400,000 Kenyans aged mostly between 20s and late 30s, here is what i found out about what Kenyans want of financial services/1
I like to think of this point of the doco as the confrontation. Which in a classic 3 act piece is when we change gears. @pesa_africa https://t.co/u0ZTAfeD5o
5/14 "You can exist outside the banking system and you are still accessing all the financial services you'd access from a bank" @pesa_africa#banksarefaceless
"Banks are faceless, you know. They’re institutions. It’s a wall. You’re talking to this artificial person, but it’s very different to the community groups." @pesa_africa#chamapesa https://t.co/u0ZTAfeD5o
5/14 "You can exist outside the banking system and you are still accessing all the financial services you'd access from a bank" @pesa_africa#banksarefaceless
A journalist asked me what i thought about Kenya's blockchain taskforce recommendation to have a Central Bank Issued Digital Currency
Here is a lesson from Ecuador's attempt
Tldr: great idea on paper, harder in practice. Likely to fail
TIL (through lurking on the @Chamapesa telegram ch) that China is going through a bubble burst in its #p2p lending market which is very similar to the #chama space (@iang_fc)
https://t.co/1baKAifWPN
A network of giant balloons will soon bring internet access to remote regions of rural Kenya.
Google's sister-company Loon has announced its first commercial deal: partnering with Telkom Kenya to deliver connectivity to the region. https://t.co/ndetGEartK
'Chamas are people who decided not to wait for anyone. They want to make a savings plan. They are looking for tools to do it. If you give them that tool, they will take it.' @tkanet@rhian_is
https://t.co/mVenwQ2XwF #bitcoin#biashara
Drama ☑️ Stats ☑️ Lurking on the Chamapesa telegram ch also offers UX implementation advice.
"Some of the app features are relevant for most of east africa right out of the box"
@pesa_africa@DanfordShadrack
https://t.co/1baKAifWPN
SN theories aside. Lurking in the @Chamapesa telegram ch also leads to the numbers (from @kendo451) The #chama savings market in #Kenya is 1.2 mn groups managing $8 bn in assets w/ annual tx vol of about $30 bn.
This has doubled in value since 2011.
https://t.co/1baKAifWPN
The Chamapesa documentary in 14 twideos - video/tweets (we'll release 1 per day to spare the spam).
1/14 How and why #mpesa scaled where traditional banks couldn't? Agent network. Low KYC requirements.
When it comes to mobile credit, China&East Africa are years ahead of the Americas&Europe. Not so much in Crypto, but the open mindset is. https://t.co/AMpRxnZ2vK
"Took me quite some time to fully internalise this: The majority of innovation today (culture, tech, service & business models, etc.) is coming from and happening in non-western markets (asia, africa, etc.). Not a fluke, but indicative of a larger global shift. Plan accordingly."